Our View: Pause to give thanks, 70 years later

There are dates that live in our national consciousness: July 4, 1776 ... Sept. 11, 2001 ... Dec. 7, 1941.

And there are dates that should live in our consciousness, but don’t. August 15, today, is one of those dates.

On this day in 1945, hostilities officially ended between all the world’s great powers. It was known as “V-J Day” – Victory over Japan Day – and it ended World War II, the crucible of The Greatest Generation.

Just three years and eight months prior – on Dec. 7, 1941 – Japan had attacked America at Pearl Harbor, “a date which will live in infamy,” in the words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Japanese planes and subs all but destroyed America’s Pacific Fleet. In total, 2,408 Americans died; 1,178 were injured. Prior to day, many Americans had resisted U.S. entry into war, both in the Pacific and Europe. With the bombing, the country united against Hirohito’s Japan, Mussolini’s Italy and Hitler’s Germany.

The vast majority of Americans living now weren’t alive then. You would have to be 77 years old now to have even a remote memory of the start of the war.

But we cannot ever forget what it required to wage that war. After vicious, deadly and heroic battles on Wake Island, on Midway, on Peleliu, on Okinawa, on Guadalcanal, on Iwo Jima, and other islands, Japan surrendered to the United States and its allies on Aug. 15, 1945.

The dropping of two atomic bombs, the most deadly weapon envisioned by man to that time, hastened Japan’s capitulation. The first fell on Hiroshima on Aug. 6. Scholars argue the necessity of using the bomb in what has become a complex and emotional debate. Few believed then that the war would have ended so quickly without that bombing and the one three days later at Nagasaki. The bombings killed nearly 250,000 people. But many more might have died if the bombs had not been dropped.

After all, the Allies were planning the invasions of the Japanese Islands of Kyushu and Honshu for later in 1945 and 1946. How many Japanese civilians would have died in those invasions? How many American and Japanese soldiers? Further, the Japanese military had ordered the execution of some 100,000 American prisoners of war in an effort, perhaps, to hide its war crimes. Using those horrifying bombs saved the lives of civilians, prisoners and tens of thousands of soldiers.

The official surrender was signed on the deck of the USS Missouri on Sept. 2, 1945.

But it was on Aug. 15, 1945, that Japan actually gave up and millions of Americans poured into the streets in joy and relief. New York’s Times Square saw the largest celebration in its history; a sailor there grabbed a nurse and kissed her, and the photograph of that kiss became the iconic image of V-J Day.

We inhabit a very different world today. Japan long since has become a valued ally and a trusted partner. Perhaps that’s why Aug. 15, 1945, is not a catechism date. But those people who lived through it – who celebrated, cried tears of joy and released their feelings of dread after nearly four years of war – will never forget. Their children and grandchildren should never forget, either.

For all the complexities of today’s world, we should pause and offer thanks that men and women across our land set aside their differences and dedicated their lives to a common purpose – defending their nation. What we have today – and we have so much – we owe to their determination, courage and sacrifice. It is something worth celebrating on the day they celebrated.

This story was originally published August 14, 2015 at 6:39 PM with the headline "Our View: Pause to give thanks, 70 years later."