Urthman's Genealogy Blog: Japanese

Showing posts with label Japanese. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Surrender Day on Okinawa – 7 September 1945

On the 7 September 1945, the Japanese forces in the Ryukyu Islands (including Okinawa) officially surrendered in an impressive ceremony on Okinawa. Prior to the ceremony, the Japanese delegation arrived on the island on the 4 September 1945 and Lt. Kowallis wrote this home:

Today was the day when all the Jap Generals & Admirals from the other islands came to Okinawa to surrender to the 10th Army. My driver has been hauling them back & forth all day. They have an old house fixed up just a couple hundred yards from my tent which they are using for a sort of headquarters. I expect they will be over there all night reading & signing documents. But I don’t see much of them. The MP’s keep every one pretty much away.

Here is a photo of Lt. Kowallis' jeep and driver with a couple of the Japanese delegation in the rear seat.

On the actual day of the official ceremony, 7 September 1945, Lt. Reinhart T. Kowallis wrote home to his wife Norma about the event. He said:

Today was the day the Japs signed the surrender papers for the Ryukyus. It took place out under the flag pole over by the General’s quarters. Tanks were lined up all along the road and over head squadrons of planes were flying over. Everyone and their dogs were there. Ray & I got a ring side seat up on the hill. As the Jap Generals were brought over the band played “The Old Grey Mare.” None of the Japs looked very happy. I wonder why.

From his ring side seat, Lt. Kowallis took the photos shown here and developed them himself.

Soldiers gather by the flag pole awaiting the arrival of the Japanese officers for the surrender ceremony. The Commanding General Joseph Stillwell's quarters are in the background in the trees. The table by the flagpole was where the papers were to be signed.

Tanks line the road way from the airport where the Japanese delegation was to arrive.

As the time for the ceremony approaches, a squadron of planes flies overhead and men stand by artillery ready to fire and announce the news.

On the day of the ceremony, the Japanese delegation was marched to the parade grounds with American officers and MPs to keep them close company. Here are a few more shots of the march to the parade grounds.

Here the Japanese delegation and their guard approach the signing table.

These last two photos are not ones from Lt. Kowallis' collection, but are official government photos of the Japanese delegation at the signing table on the parade grounds and of the ceremony from an aerial view.

You can read more about the Battle of Okinawa on Wikipedia, PBS.org, and History.com.
Other good sites for information on the Battle of Okinawa during 1945 include:

And for post-war Okinawa, this is a very good site with lots of pictures from 1945 through 1972: Remembering Okinawa

Note: Be sure to visit my other blogs on Okinawa in 1945:

Saturday, March 29, 2014

10th Army Photo Interpretation Group

Orders issued to the Photo Interpretation Group attached to the 10th Army during World War II. The group was a small one with Lt. Reinhart T. Kowallis and Lt. Martin M. Martinson as group leaders. The other men in the group were Sgt. Jack E. Gill, Wiley J. Langston, Frederick J. Kuchndorf, Borborian A. Borgo, and Washington I. Newman. The group departed from Washington State in January 1945 and traveled on a ship to Hawaii. After spending a few weeks in Hawaii, the group was attached to the 10th Army and departed for a couple months in Guam after which they were moved to Okinawa, arriving there just in time for the last of the fighting and the surrender of the island by the Japanese. Here are a few photos my father (Lt. Kowallis) brought home of the group and their camp area.

Lt. Kowallis (on right) with another officer on Guam in the 10th Army Camp.

In about April 1945 on Guam, Lt. Kowallis (third from left) with other officers who lived in the officers quarters. Lt. Martin Martinson, also in his photo interpretation group may be the second from left in the photo.

LDS servicemen on Guam in April or May 1945.

Sgt. Jack Gill of the photo interpretation group at the beach. Lt. Kowallis and Sgt. Gill spent many hours of their free time at the beach collection cowrie and other shells to send home.

Lt. Martin Martinson doing his laundry in the 10th Army camp on Okinawa.

Aerial photo analyzer used during the war by the photo interpretation group.

One of the colorful signs posted around the 10th Army Camp.

10th Army Camp area on Okinawa in 1945.

10th Army mess tents on Okinwawa.

10th Army Camp area after the typhoon hit Okinawa in October 1945. Only a few tents survived the storm.

10th Army commanding general's quarters on Okinawa in 1945.

Lt. Kowallis (left) heating water for his laundry on Okinawa in 1945. I do not know who the other soldier is.

Lt. Martinson on Okinawa in 1945.

Men of the 10th Army photo group and perhaps others enjoying a steak fry on one of the rare occasions when they got some fresh meat.

Post exchange on Okinawa in 1945.

Movie night for the 10th Army soldiers.

Propaganda dropped by the Japanese into the area of the U.S. forces.

You can read more about the Battle of Okinawa on Wikipedia, PBS.org, and History.com. Other good sites for information on the Battle of Okinawa during 1945 include:

And for post-war Okinawa, this is a very good site with lots of pictures from 1945 through 1972: Remembering Okinawa

Note: Be sure to visit my other blogs on Okinawa in 1945:

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Okinawa 1945: Capture of a Japanese Soldier

There were only a few occasions when Lt. Reinhart T. Kowallis (seen above stirring the hot water for his laundry) was not occupied with his photo team, but actually got out into the hills of Okinawa. On the 9th of July 1945, he was leading a group of men in helping to locate and remove Japanese soldiers from some of the caves on the south end of the island. The Japanese soldiers in these caves were cut off from any central command and were unaware that the fight for the island was over. Lt. Kowallis recounts this day in his letter home to his wife Norma.

                                                                                Okinawa
                                                                                9 July 1945
Dearest Norma,
    What a contrast today has been from yesterday. Yesterday I went to conference, today I was down on the South tip of the island where the Japs still infest the country. We went down to check some Jap installations and caves. There were only five of us went down, but when we got down to the escarpment to be inspected we met a five man patrol out looking for Japs. They told us that the day before they had killed three within fifty yards of where we were standing. With us only five men it didn’t sound so good to be wandering around in the rocks by our selves, so we asked them to join us for a ways, which they did. We had not moved forward fifty yards until someone spotted a Jap ducking into a cave. We went up to where it was and one of the boys saw him duck out of sight. Twice after that some one saw his head come to the light and then disappear. We tried to get him to come out by calling to him, but he would not come so we threw a smoke grenade. The smoke came out of the ground in at least a dozen different places around us, but no Jap showed up. After the smoke cleared out a couple of the boys got down into the entrance of the cave, which was not very large, and shined their lights in. They could make out two Japs. One was lying under a blanket which had been set afire by the grenade. The other one we could only see his foot sticking out from behind a box. We didn’t know what they had in the way of weapons so no one would go in after them, which is a very unwise thing to do in any case. We kept talking to them although they couldn’t understand us. Finally I guess the smoke got too hot and heavy for the one under the blanket. We heard him coming and backed up so we could cover both entrances to the cave. He came on out very slow and cautious like, carrying a grenade in his right hand. We motioned for him to drop the grenade, which he did. As soon as he was in the clear, we cut off his clothing he had left on. He had no other weapon. He was pretty much afraid at first until one of the boys gave him a smoke. Then by means of sign language he told us there were still two more in the cave. We then got him to call to the others to come out with no results. When we tried to get him to go back in to get them, he would not, and again by means of signs gave us to understand they would kill him if he went back in. We kept trying for another half hour or so to get them to come out, but no soap. Then all at once out comes a grenade right through the entrance where we were standing. You never saw ten men take cover so fast in all your life as we did. At the same time the grenade went off outside, one went off inside. The Jap we had told us they had blown themselves up. We went down into the entrance once more, and could still hear someone moving, so we threw in three grenades. Our prisoner told us that in the cave to the right of us ten more Japs were hiding, and in a cave just a little to the left were five more. One of them he said was a captain, and he thot they had two machine guns. He also said in the cave he had come out of were about 200 rifles. We thot we had better get out of there while the getting was good, so we loaded our prisoner in the back of the Jeep and took off for camp. He was very cooperative all during this time, especially after he found out we weren’t going to hurt him. On the way up the coast his eyes almost popped out when he saw all the trucks, ships, & other equipment. We gave him a candy bar to eat on the way and he downed it in about two gulps. He had been making signs to tell us he was hungry and I guess he was, in spite of the fact that he was in excellent physical condition. We brought him right up to the G-2 section so the boys couldn’t help but believe our story, then we turned him over to the MPs. He was very grateful for what we had done, and when we left him, he gave us a big smile and sort of half saluted.
    I guess this story should do for tonight, but don’t go worrying because I’ll be as careful as I can. I don’t go on the trips for enjoyment but because I have to.
                                                                            All my love to you,
                                                                            Reinhart

Here are the photos of the caves and of the Japanese soldier they captured.

One of the team trying to talk to the Japanese soldiers in the cave.

One soldier emerges from the cave.

The soldier is stripped and searched for weapons.

Then he is offered a cigarette.

After the other soldiers inside the cave blow themselves up, the team marches back to their jeep with prisoner in tow. I wonder who this young Japanese soldier was and if he lived to have a family and children of his own. I hope so.

You can read more about the Battle of Okinawa on Wikipedia, PBS.org, and History.com. Other good sites for information on the Battle of Okinawa during 1945 include:

And for post-war Okinawa, this is a very good site with lots of pictures from 1945 through 1972: Remembering Okinawa

Note: Be sure to visit my other blogs on Okinawa in 1945:

Friday, March 7, 2014

Okinawa 1945: More Photos from Lt. R. T. Kowallis

War is never glamorous even though it is often portrayed that way in the movies. Pain, separation, and death are all too common. When Lieutenant Kowallis (my father) came to Okinawa in 1945, he and his mapping/aerial photo team were not exposed to the horrors of war as often as soldiers on the front lines, but what they did see still left them with mental scars that were hard to escape. My father told me once that the most lasting impression he had of Okinawa was the stacks of coffins he saw being loaded to send back home to loved ones who would never again see their brother or father or son.

But it was not just the Americans who suffered great loss. The Japanese soldiers on the island were wounded and died as well. These photos from my father's collection haunt me as I wonder about the mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, and perhaps wives and children of these men. You can read more about the Battle of Okinawa on Wikipedia, PBS.org, and History.com.

Life Magazine's photo of the American troops landing on Okinawa in April 1945.

Lieutenants Martinsen (left) and Kowallis (right) outside their quarters on Okinawa in 1945.

Lieutenant R. T. Kowallis cooling off on a hot Okinawa day.

A wounded American soldier on Okinawa in May 1945.

A Japanese prisoner being interrogated on Okinawa.

Map of American advance on the island of Okinawa in 1945.

As the Americans moved across the island, they used flame throwers to burn the vegetation and destroy the cover for the enemy. These photos show the flame throwing troops in action. Above is the assault on Hill 178.

The flame throwers left behind a wasteland. What was once a forested, green countryside, became a burned, scarred land.

This Japanese officer, seen in the above two photos, was badly burned by the flame throwers.

You can read more about the Battle of Okinawa on Wikipedia, PBS.org, and History.com. Other good sites for information on the Battle of Okinawa during 1945 include:

And for post-war Okinawa, this is a very good site with lots of pictures from 1945 through 1972: Remembering Okinawa

Note: Be sure to visit my other blogs on Okinawa in 1945: