Description:

World War II

Fantastic Japanese Surrender Naval Dispatch

 

Single page typed Naval dispatch, 8" x 7", with two punch holes along top edge. Header of U.S. Naval Communication Service, Amphibious Forces, Pacific. Dated, "10 Aug 45".

Ex. J. John Fox (1905-1999) Intelligence Officer for the Amphibious Forces, via Auction (see below for his Biography).

 

A fantastic example of an important Naval Dispatch from the height of the war against Japan during World War II, communicating the important message that with Japan's termination of hostilities, it is incumbent on "all officers to conduct themselves with dignity and decorum". Shown in full below:

 

"Secret

With the  termination of hostilities against Japan it is incumbent on all officers to conduct themselves with dignity and decorum in their treatment of the Japanese and their public utterances in connection

With the Japanese x The Japanese are still the same nation which initiated the war by a treacherous attack on the Pacific Fleet and which has subjected our brothers in arms who became prisoners to torture starvation.

And murder x however the use of insulting epithets in connection with the Japanese as a race or as individuals does not now become the officers of the United States Navy x Officers of the Pacific fleet.

Will take steps to require of all personnel under their command a high standard of conduct in this matter x neither familiarity and open forgiveness nor abuse and vituperation should be permitted."

 

There is contentious debate among scholars about why Japan surrendered in World War II. Some believe the Aug. 15, 1945 declaration was the result of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It’s possible that these finally pushed Emperor Hirohito (posthumously called Emperor Showa) to break the deadlock in the Supreme War Council and accept the terms of the Potsdam Declaration for unconditional surrender issued by the Allied leaders on July 26, 1945. In that declaration, there was a promise of “prompt and utter destruction” if the armed forces of Japan didn’t surrender. The use of weapons of mass destruction causing the incineration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in quick succession backed up that threat, highlighting the futility of continuing the war. In this narrative, the dawning of the nuclear age brought peace. It also allowed military leaders to save face, since they could claim that the war was not lost on the battlefield, and agree to surrender to spare the Japanese people from more suffering.

This meant abandoning ketsu-go, the strategy of fighting one last decisive battle intended to inflict so many casualties on a war-weary America that it would relax its demands for unconditional surrender and negotiate a peace. This would, at a minimum, safeguard the Emperor, and potentially preserve the armed forces and shield them from prosecution for war crimes.

 

 

Biography:

J. John Fox (1905-1999) was born in Paterson, NJ, but grew up in and worked most of his adult life in Boston, MA. He attended Boston University, then enrolled in Boston University Law School. It was there he acquired the nickname “Just John” Fox, his reply to a professor’s question about his name. 

When Pearl Harbor was attacked, Fox enlisted in the Navy, despite being around 36 years old. Initially he served in the North Atlantic before being assigned to the amphibious forces in the Pacific Theater under Admiral Richmond “Kelly” Turner. Fox became an intelligence officer and was involved in the planning of the assaults on Kwajelein, the Marianas, Palau, Leyte, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. In late 1945, he was also deeply involved in planning the invasion of Japan. Had the invasion occurred, he was to have been in charge of prisoner interrogation and captured documents. He was awarded the bronze star for his service in the Pacific Theater. Before being discharged in 1946, he assisted in amphibious operations training materials at the Naval War College in Newport, RI. 

After his discharge, he returned to his legal practice in Boston. Governor Dever appointed him as an associate judge in 1952. He then became a probate judge in Norfolk Probate Court in 1960. He retired from the bench in 1973. 

In the 1960s Fox helped establish a public medical school in Massachusetts, a school that became the University of Massachusetts Medical School. In 1974, he co-sponsored, with David Bartley, the Bartley-Fox Law, the first of its kind, in Massachusetts. Bartley-Fox established stiff penalties for illegal possession of a firearm and committing a crime with an unlicensed firearm. Although the law generated controversy, as does all firearms-related legislation, this one did not restrict ownership of firearms, it only required them to be registered. 

Judge Fox lived for another quarter century after retirement, passing away on October 4, 1999 at the age of 96. This piece was brought back from the Pacific by Fox following World War II, and descended in his family.

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