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In most Allied nations, VJ (Victory over Japan) Day is celebrated on Aug. 15. That is the day Japan accepted the unconditional surrender terms dictated in the Potsdam Declaration of July 26, 1945, and previously announced at the Casablanca Conference of January 1943.
President Harry Truman, however, decided that VJ Day would be Sept. 2 — the day Japan signed the formal surrender documents on the deck of the Battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
But the actual fighting ended on Aug. 15 – Aug. 14 in the United States – when Emperor Hirohito broke the news in his first-ever radio broadcast to the Japanese people. “We have commanded the Imperial government to communicate to the governments of the United States, Great Britain, China, and the Soviet Union that the Empire accepts the terms of the joint declaration.“ “The enemy has begun to employ a new and cruel bomb causing immense destruction. Should we continue to fight not only would it result in the ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but it would also lead to the total extinction of human civilization,“ he said.
Not every Japanese soldier got the message. A few held out in isolated jungles for years. The last Japanese soldier to surrender was Lieutenant Heroo Onodo who held out until March 9, 1974– twenty-nine years after Japan’s surrender.
The new and cruel bombs the Emperor cited were the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, and Nagasaki on Aug. 9. According to the world news section of the Advocate of Aug. 22, 1945, the objective of the first bomb was the rail and industrial center of Hiroshima.
But most of Hiroshima’s major industrial plants were located on the outskirts of the city and survived the blast. The city center, on the other hand, was almost completely obliterated and more than 100,000 people, mostly civilians, were either killed or died later from the effects of the atomic blast.
“Our sit and spitters were right on the beam when they predicted the end of the war when the atomic bomb was first used,” said Editor Allison.
The Nagasaki bomb was even more powerful, but due to the rugged terrain and the fact that many civilians had been evacuated there were fewer casualties. Still the estimated death toll from both bombs ranged between 150,000 and 246,000.
The Hiroshima bomb was built at Los Alamos, New Mexico, using uranium enriched at a new laboratory at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The bomb dropped on Nagasaki utilized plutonium produced in a nuclear reactor at Hanford, Washington. There was a Laurel connection to the Nagasaki bomb.
Harold Paulsen graduated from Laurel High School in 1936, and went on to earn a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from the University of Nebraska in 1940. In 1943, he was working at a large ammunition plant near Joliet, Illinois.
Later that year, he was transferred to the Pasco atomic bomb plant on the new Hanford Nuclear Reserve. Located on the Columbia River in south central Washington, the Hanford complex was where the plutonium used in the Nagasaki bomb was produced.
The Advocate of Aug. 15, 1945, reported that Paulsen was one of 22 young scientists assigned to work on the atomic bomb project.
“This group, sworn to absolute secrecy, worked almost day and night in the race to discover atomic power before German scientists made the same discovery. And so another Laurel boy has contributed to the ending of the war in a great way.”
With more than 50,000 people employed at Hanford during the peak of the Manhattan Project, it is hard to imagine that a small town boy with only a bachelor’s degree in chemistry could have played a significant role in the development of the plutonium bomb. If any readers have information about Paulsen’s role, I would like to hear about it.
Harold Paulsen was employed at Hanford until he retired in 1988. He died in 1995, and is buried in Richland, Washington. He was a brother of Charles Paulsen and Elizabeth Norvell of Laurel.
Another Laurel boy also played a role in the atomic bomb project. Lieutenant John L. O’Gara, son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter O’Gara, was involved in the Military Intelligence Division of the Manhattan Project. As the Manhattan Project was a closely guarded secret, the Military Intelligence Division was charged with training workers not to reveal any information to anyone.
“O’Gara is to be highly commended for his part in the project,“ said the Advocate.
A few miscellaneous facts about the year 1945: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who may have steered America into the world war and presided over most of it, died in April. Vice President Harry Truman, who succeeded him in office, presided over the war’s conclusion in August. Truman was named Man of the Year by Time magazine.
Bess Meyerson became the first Jewish girl to win the Miss America title.
The U.S. population was approximately 140 million in 1945. Since that time the population has more than doubled. It now stands at a little under 350 million.
Life expectancy was 62.9 years in 1945. Life expectancy today is about 79.
July 1945, a B-25 bomber crashed into the side of the Empire State building in New York City. Despite heavy damage to the 78th floor, the building remained standing and much of it was open for business two days later.
Contrast this with September 11, 2001, when two passenger jets were crashed into the upper floors of the twin towers of the World Trade Center causing the buildings to collapse to the ground. Better construction in 1930 perhaps?
The above information came from a booklet entitled “1945 Yearbook” sent to me by Joyce and Jerry Roslund of Mendota Heights, Minnesota. Joyce is the daughter of the late J.D. “Dutch” and Dorothy Urwiler. Joyce and I graduated in 1963. This was the last Laurel High School graduating class. The school became Laurel-Concord the following year.
