European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 28, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse A Jap Harbor Pilot swings from the destroyer Nicholas to Dock of the battleship even More attention than did the Samurai swords and the Gaudy Gold braid spilling from the shoulders of the High ranking Jap the suitcase bore a sticker that read sir Francis Drake Tor Shiro head of the Jap Mission and Vic chief of the Imperial general was the first to get out of the c54 fat cat that brought the japs Back to Manila under Dif Ferent conditions than when they first came Kawabe had on his Samurai sword and so did other officers among the the crowd of americans eyed the potential souvenirs Kawabe snapped to attention when he saw Macarthur expert on the Kawabe saluted and then extended his Mashbir extended his own remembered protocol and snatched it Back the head of the Jap Mission seemed to have lost a bit of his aplomb when it came time to present his credentials As representative of the son of t5 Walter Knapke of the 4026th signal photo battalion he seemed Knapke was there when Kawabe came into the room where Richard Suther chief of staff to was waiting for said he dropped the credentials to the when he had picked them up he fumbled around with them before he handed them Over to one of the Junior officers in the Mission was allowed to buy cigarettes for the party and he Drew the ration permitted Carton per he asked for Lucky strikes but he had to be satisfied with Philip it is unrecorded if he was told hed have to be satisfied with what he could get because there was a War he paid for the cigarettes with a Bill and when was offered the change in filipino Money he spurned insisting on having Amer ican Bills and the americans were touched by his Faith in the integrity of the Yankee t4 Raymond Katayana of Battle got quite chummy with one of the Shuichi who acted As Mizota stood by the window and looked at the ruins of Katayama said later that Mizota seemed probably because hed been Frozen out of one of the these said the Jap Arent so bad As he added that Osaka and Yokohama were even Katayama asked him in japanese whether the atomic bomb had destroyed the Jap Secretary Hiroshima Hast been he it has vanished from the face of the Ralph Izard yank staff correspondent aboard the Nicholas entering sagam1 Allen cwt of los wore the same four Leaf Clover he had around his neck during the Battle of Kula Dick Green Golc was smoking the same Briar and Joseph Moll Smolc of had even shined his it was one hell of a special the destroyer which Nad come All the Way with Halsey from Guadalcanal to the coast of had been picked by the Admiral to meet the Jap emissaries coming out of the japs were to guide the Fleet into Tokyo a few minutes after 0600 the Bridge Aime Morrissette sic of fall peered intently through his and called Over his land the port soon the rest of us could see it a shadowy mass behind Clouds on the on the signal Bridge Thomas Conner Smolc of ran up the Flag hoist and stared hard at his first View of his a signal corps private captured on was believed be in a prison Camp near the taskforce formation began to break the Battle wagons Iowa and Duke York dropped Back cans and ads moved for the Nicholas in the three Carrier Tor Pedo bombers crossed flying very and disappeared into a Haze then at 0710 Henry Wallace High on the fire control director above the flying unidentified ship dead everybody who could made a grab for his Over the Hori Zon came a single ship moving directly toward the Crew of the Nicholas went to Battle Sta up in the fire Richard Tanner fc3c of and Harold Rohr sic of concentrated on the Range finder and started calling the it was Yards and closing the Nicholas picked up leaving the rest of the ships the whale boat Crew jumped into their boat and started spreading White sheets Over the seats now the Jap ship was close at she was a two Stacker destroyer flying a huge Jap Flag on the after the Nicholas skipper barked an order and signalman ran up a Redan Dwhite the Jap ship heaved rolling heavily in the her Bottom looked As if it had a new coat of red we could see her Crew plainly wore Green fatigues and High Black Carrier planes zoomed Low across her the Nicholas whaleboat moved Over toward the american Flag on her Stern standing out sharply against the Blue coxswain Lloyd Blakeslee threw his Tiller Over and brought the boat smartly alongside the Bowman Leo Miles sic of passed up his new Manila line and the Jap Crew took it and held the boat then things seemed to come to a officers and men in the whaleboat looked up at the japs japs crowded the rail and looked the Nicholas skipper got Imp Over the bullhorn came a what is the delay get pm Down in the boat that seemed to break the a whole mob of japs emerged from the deck House and started crowding around the Jacobs ladder and sliding Down into the in a moment Blakeslee had a full Load and started he came and the first Jap emissaries climbed up aboard the Nicholas and saluted the officer of the who led the party Forward to the the emissaries were a mixed two who seemed to have the highest rank took seats at the head of a table in the Middle of the room the rest sat Down around them and on a leather Couch against the the japs faces seemed very Alert and their eyes moved about the room looking at those of us who were inside with them and at the armed guards standing in the door the two Hig rankers wore Gray Green Palm each uniforms with Gold Jour agrees around their one had three rows of fruit salad on his left breast the two at the left hip both wore Long swords that dragged on the and they both wore Dagger length pieces said to be known As one was from the Yokosuka naval base and the other from the Tokyo naval the Commodore of the destroyer Squadron came in and who is the interpreter two or three stood up and the Commodore please Tell your party it will be necessary for them to be one interpreter we do not have any concealed the Commodore it will be necessary for you to remove your swords it seemed As if most of the group understood what he was talking about for they All stood and unbuckled their swords and Laid them in a Heap in the Center of the table and then sat Down for a moment the atmosphere seemed slightly strained and then everybody pulled out cigarettes and started smoking photog Raphers climbed on chairs to take pictures and the Young pilots and interpreters watched with keen a bulb at which every body jumped and then one Jap seemed greatly impressed with a Silex Coffee maker on the he went Over and examined it others found copies of life Magazine and opened them the first thing one spotted was a two Page spread of the b29 runway on the Jap stared at moving his lips As if count ing the planes lined up on the runways in the another settled Back to read with great concentration a Carbond message signed by King and other chief so of the whaleboat had now made four bring ing Over a total of 13 two naval emissaries and six some of the interpreters were one was an oldish fellow wearing brow Linen an old coat and a Panama another was a Young professor of ethics and philosophy from a College in he told me he had been a student at Columbia University in new York City in meanwhile the Nicholas was picking up the executive officer came in and told the interpreters to Tell the group that we were going alongside the Missouri to Transfer the naval emis when this word was passed around Sev eral got up and peered out of the the Missouri and the Loiza were plainly visible less than a mile one of the japs Shook his head and smiled As if gee Whiz he they were yes i told him they were a year old and he Shook his head again and went Back to the when we pulled alongside the big Moe she looked like the Yankee stadium on a summer sunday from the main deck to the Mast Lookout posts there was a solid mass of Blu jackets and Khaki the vessels main 16inch batteries were trained aimed Pointblank at now Only about 10 Miles two huge american flags flew from the firetruck and on the open part of the Bridge surrounded by was a familiar figure wearing a baseball Cap and Sun was out to see the the line was passed and Over came a red chair fringed with White two Jap staff officers were brought out on Sherman Meredith Bulc motioned to one of the Jap stepped Forward and sat Down Bolt a Roll of Harbor charts on his a Raincoat Over one the Nicholas deck Crew buckled him the Boatswain pipe thrilled and up he went into the air like a staid private citizen Riding a Ferris too Happy about it but deter mined to retain his suddenly a loud flurry of japanese spouted from the Nicholas Bull the Jap destroyer had nosed in for a closer look at the proceedings and the Nicholas skipper had the Jap interpreter up on the Bridge order her to shove she did so a few minutes later orders were received to put the rest of the pilots and interpreters on the other destroyer for Transfer to various ships of the task with the Missouri in the followed closely by the Iowa and Duke of York and a screen of cans and the Advance portion of the third Fleet steamed swiftly into Sagami the lower Entrance to Tokyo the japanese at first a Mere blur on the changed rapidly into a High rugged Hill and narrow beaches fringed with a few minutes after 1330 hours the Fleet heaved to and let go off to port Rose a huge bluish Ray Mountain tipped with it looked vaguely As indeed it should it was Evan Wylie cup or Yang staff correspondent the army publication issued weekly by Branch information 1 education War 205 fast 424 new York Tig hit restricted As indicated a Ike Masthead on the editorial entered at second Clasi matter july at the Post office at new under the act of March subscription Price printed in he a Page 4
