Sixty-seven years ago today...

...the Japanese submitted a formal declaration of surrender. The surrender wasn't made public for four more days. Members of the Japanese army attempted to seize Hirohito and the declaration before it could be transmitted to prevent the end of the war. Elements loyal to the Emperor prevented them. That leads me to this comment. My father was staged with the invasion force waiting to invade Japan. Because of the dropping of the atomic bombs Japan surrendered and he became part of the Army of the Occupation. I don't know that my Dad wouldn't have survived the landings. I don't know that he would have, but the the estimates were that loses might climb as high as one million. I do know that he came home in 1946, and he and my Mom began a family. I was born fourteen years later. I'm glad they dropped the bombs. So was my Dad.