{"id":166162,"date":"2015-09-02T09:22:23","date_gmt":"2015-09-02T13:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noaacoastsurvey.wordpress.com\/?p=166162"},"modified":"2015-09-02T09:22:23","modified_gmt":"2015-09-02T13:22:23","slug":"today-in-wwii-history-adm-nimitz-recognizes-coast-geodetic-survey-assistance-in-making-possible-japanese-surrender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/today-in-wwii-history-adm-nimitz-recognizes-coast-geodetic-survey-assistance-in-making-possible-japanese-surrender\/","title":{"rendered":"Today in WWII history: Adm. Nimitz recognizes Coast & Geodetic Survey assistance in \u201cmaking possible\u201d Japanese surrender"},"content":{"rendered":"

On September 2, 1945, the Japanese officially surrendered to end WWII. A photo from the day, showing Admiral Chester Nimitz signing the Japanese surrender document, has his\u00a0personal message: “To Rear Admiral H. Arnold Karo, USC&GS \u2014 with best wishes and great appreciation of the assistance of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in making possible the above scene. C. W. Nimitz, Fleet Admiral, U. S. Navy.\u201d
\n
\n

\"Adm.<\/a>
Adm. Nimitz was a signatory to the Instrument of Surrender. On this photo, he inscribed his appreciation for the contributions of U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey personnel during WWII.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nThe U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey was one of NOAA\u2019s predecessor agencies, and today\u2019s uniformed NOAA Corps had its beginnings with WWI<\/a>, when the commissioned service of the USC&GS was formed. During WWII, the Coast and Geodetic Survey sent over 1000 civilian members and over half of its commissioned officers to the military services. (See The World Wars<\/em><\/a>.) Coast Surveyors served as hydrographers, artillery surveyors, cartographers, army engineers, intelligence officers, and geophysicists in all theaters of the war. Civilians, on the home front, produced over 100 million maps and charts for the Allied forces. Eleven members of the USC&GS gave their lives during WWII.\u00a0<\/strong>
\nIn recent remembrance of the service and sacrifice of those men and women, Cmdr. Matt Wingate, commanding officer of NOAA\u2019s Marine Operations Center \u2012 Pacific Islands, recently wrote this report:<\/strong>
\nFireworks lit up the Honolulu night on August 15. Seventy years ago \u2014 August 15, 1945 \u2014 Emperor Hirohito broadcast news of Japan\u2019s surrender to the Japanese people \u2014 and the world. As a result, August 14 (because of the international dateline) and 15 are forever known as VJ Day or \u201cVictory over Japan Day.\u201d<\/em>
\n
\"Peace<\/a>
Aug 15, 2015, Ford Island, Hawaii — The “Peace Fireworks” with NOAA’s new Inouye Regional Center silhouetted on the right.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nTo honor this historic event, the U.S. Navy and the cities of Honolulu, Hawaii, and Nagaoka, Japan, celebrated seventy years of peace with a solemn ceremony and spectacular fireworks. (Nagaoka is the home town of Admiral Yamamoto, the key planner behind the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.)<\/em>
\n
\"Commemorative<\/a>
Aug 15, 2015, Ford Island, Hawaii — A restored Japanese Zero flies over NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette<\/em> in commemoration of seventy years of peace between Japan and the United States.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nAs I watched the fireworks with shipmates aboard NOAA Ship <\/a><\/em>Oscar Elton Sette<\/a>, an overwhelming sense of pride and humility descended. Proud to be witnessing such a historic event, proud to be part of this amazing agency and its legacy, and also humbled by history. What a difference 70 years can make. Take a look at the historic photo with Admiral Nimitz\u2019s signed note. I hope you get goose bumps at what he wrote to the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey director, Rear Admiral Karo. That\u2019s a proud chapter of our legacy!<\/em>
\nSomething happened recently that also made me proud of our mariners. I recently met the chief of staff for Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickham. We were scheduled to meet for 30 minutes, but the meeting extended to almost an hour because the commander was so intrigued with NOAA\u2019s mission and the mariners who sail NOAA ships. The amount of time NOAA mariners spend at sea was especially impactful on him. As I left him, I was proud of our mariners and their salty heritage. His admiration for NOAA\u2019s mariners was palpable. <\/em>
\nI hope NOAA mariners hold that feeling in your work vests, and pull it out when needed. Stay focused, stay safe, and be proud of your efforts. Others certainly are.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On September 2, 1945, the Japanese officially surrendered to end WWII. A photo from the day, showing Adm. Nimitz signing the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, has his personal message to the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[288,206,229],"class_list":["post-166162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","tag-adm-chester-nimitz","tag-u-s-coast-and-geodetic-survey","tag-world-war-ii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}