The website - https://www.timelines.ws/20thcent/1945.HTML - has a timeline for 1945. According to it,
"May 2, the Soviet Union announced the fall of Berlin, and the Allies announced the surrender of Nazi troops in Italy and parts of Austria. The Russians took Berlin after 12 days of fierce house-to-house fighting and General Weidling surrendered. Yevgeny Khaldei, soldier-photographer, made pictures of Soviet soldiers hoisting the red flag over the Reichstag in Berlin."
On May 3, Ireland’s Prime Minister Eamon de Valera conveyed official condolences on the death of Adolph Hitler to diplomat Eduard Hempel. President Douglas Hyde also visited German diplomat Eduard Hempel, a day after Ireland received reports of Hitler's death. This caused worldwide outrage and controversy because the world had learned of the extent of Nazi atrocities. This surprised DeValera who had declared that Ireland would be neutral in WWII. Formerly classified papers reported that there was also a discussion of whether to lower the Irish flag to half staff as was done when President Roosevelt died.
May 5, a Japanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon, killing Mrs. Elsie Mitchell, the pregnant wife of a minister, and five children after they attempted to drag it out of the woods in Lakeview, Oregon. The balloon was armed, and exploded soon after they began tampering with it. They became the 1st and only known American civilians to be killed in the continental US during World War II.
May 7, Colonel General Alfred Jodl, the last chief of staff of the German Army signed an unconditional surrender at General Dwight D. Eisenhower's headquarters at Rheims, France to take effect the following day - thus ending the five year European conflict of World War II. Eisenhower refused to meet with the Germans until the surrender was signed.
https://www.businessinsider.com/what-it-was-like-when-wwii-ended-in-europe-2020-5
The following letter is dated May 7, 1945 - there are 2 envelopes dated May 8, 1945 - so obviously there must be a letter missing.
"May 7, 1945
My dearest Ellen,
It's been some time since I've written to you and if your nerves are stretched a bit I'll forgive you for a change. I had good intentions of writing during the past week but every time my good intentions were about to act something or someone else had better intentions for my efforts. I've been receiving mail from you by the bushelfuls and every time I think of my not having written I commence to cringe and suffer from a very guilty conscience. We've been going thru a modified training course out here. There isn't much to it but everyone has to be checked out on it. When we go to our real training we are issued Marine greens and a carbine. This carbine is a rifle and we've had two days on the range with it so far. As rifles go it is really a honey and if opportunity ever arises I believe I'll smuggle it home. We've gone to lectures and demonstration on tent erection, pack rolling and carrying, hand grenades & booby traps their use and safety precautions. All this may scare you but please remain calm. The training we get in these various devices is too small and unconcentrated to do any good to any of us but it instills in us a deep respect for each of these devices and if an occasion ever arose as to our using them we would have an idea of them. As far as our military instructions are concerned you need have no fear as everything will be all right.
I've been out on liberty a couple of times but I don't think I've told you about them. It wasn't bad in fact a little better than I expected they would be. One liberty I spent in Santa Monica, my first liberty on the West Coast, I think. Traveling is really rugged out here and its pretty difficult to bum borrow or steal a ride. Where we are is a small town Oxnard and its only means of contact with outside world as far as traffic is concerned is the Greyhound Bus and the Frisco-LA highway that runs thru the town. The night we made our liberty we were lucky enough to bum a ride from a good citizen who was going home to LA from Santa Barbara. He drove right to Santa Monica which is on the way to LA. It is to be truthful about twelve miles from Los Angeles. The ride down was really nice. Along the coast road the scenery is really pretty with the ocean and its surf smashing against the jagged rocks on shore on one side and the mountains gradually rising to terrific heights on the other. Every thing seems clear & clean and it gives you a lift I guess. We passed thru Malibu beach, the swimming hole of the stars and then into Santa Monica. The beach homes at Malibu are really nice joints. I guess it's a throw back on the silent picture days when the dumb bunnies lost their shirts trying to out do each other as far as clothes homes and luxuries are concerned.
Santa Monica is a nice clean quiet appearing town with palms along the road. I doubt if there natural for this clime but they have a nice effect anyway.
The people as a whole aren't bad but it's hard to define them as there has been such a terrific influx of war workers you really don't know who is a native. The Mexican seem to be the most permanent residents but they have almost the same social level as a negro. Almost I say but not quite that low. The city is nice clean and fresh looking and has a beautiful view of the ocean from the main part of town. It's divided into two sections the beach area & the town itself. The clubs cafes etc are as a general rule beautifully artfully & expensively decorated inside and out but of course as in every town you will find your dives and joints. When you speak to the people and try to mingle with them you have to watch your Ps & Qs as you never can tell from where these people came and some slighting remark may turn out to be an insult to someone close by. In some respects it's like New York as far as the people are concerned.
These people don't seem to be affected in the least by the proximity of Hollywood which is twelve miles from them. There main design seems to be to get this defense money have a good time and maybe go home when it's all over. It give these small areas a look of insecurity to the strangers eye as the only permanently secured establishments are the business houses and small areas of homes, the rest are tourist cabins and trailer parks. The food situation all out here is acute and prices are high. For example ham & eggs run you close to eighty cents whereas in the Midwest it seldom tops 35 cents. You are lucky indeed if you can get them too. Housing is a greater problem as you can probably imagine. All in all though it isn't too bad but it seems that people judge California by these nicer places and are surprised to see the barrenness they really have."
On the back of the letter my father wrote "Another letter following - don't get excited."
I was interested in my father's descriptions of California's coast. My daughter and I only got as far south as San Francisco driving from Washington state, but we drove along the coast and it was as my father described it.
https://www.britannica.com/place/Oxnard tells us that Oxnard "lies near the Pacific coast, between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. Originally inhabited by Chumash Indians, the city was founded in 1898 near the site of the Spanish colonial Mission San Buenaventura (1782). The city developed around a sugar-beet factory financed by Henry Oxnard and his three brothers. Other crops grown in the area, including beans and barley, were based on the surrounding alluvial plain. With the development of harbour facilities at adjacent Port Hueneme and nearby military installations, the city grew rapidly and expanded its economic base to include electronics and aerospace plants. Tourism is also economically important."
According to the Los Angeles Times, Port Hueneme has been, for most of the last century, a tiny city on the coast of Ventura County ... that imports everything from BMWs to Dole produce. Port Hueneme, a city of only 5 square miles and around 22,000 residents, is enveloped by the city of Oxnard (think Santa Monica in relation to Los Angeles). Most of its area is taken up by the shipping port and a section of Naval Base Ventura County. The Port of Hueneme ... imports more than $11 billion worth of goods each year.
In the map below Port Hueneme is the starred area on the left - Santa Barbara is further north past Ventura - following the coast south from Port Hueneme you come to Malibu and Santa Monica before you get to Los Angeles.
It's interesting to think about my father's descriptions after just reading that Oxnard was only founded in 1898 - less than 50 years before my father arrived there - that explains why he said it was a small town and the lack of roads made transportation difficult.
"May 7 1945
My very dearest Ellen,
Now for letter number two. Enough of Santa Monica now for the other spots I've dropped in and graced with my presence. This past weekend I spent in Los Angeles and Hollywood. In order to get there, a problem that had us stumped, we rode the fifty or so miles in the box of a trailer truck that stopped and picked up the sailors on the way in. If this benevolent soul, the driver I mean, hadn't done so we probably would still be on our way there. Our luck was good for once and the ride took us to downtown L.A. After something to eat, I had a boiled beef heart, we got us a room. It was easy it seemed but it was just our good fortune to get to a hotel desk just as a guy was checking out. We got a double bed and bath and were content. We began to wonder though how three of us were going to sleep in one bed. We toured the town and saw what it was like. Like most sailors we spent a lot of time on Main St which to me is nothing else but the Scolley Square of L.A. It is full of cheap women and money mad men who I fear have no scruples nor pride and whose sole purpose in life is to make money fast and plenty caring not from whom nor how. They have a bunch of cheap woman as fronts who make the sailors look like the G.I. suckers they really are. I got disgusted with them but after a while figured to hell with them if that's what they want they can have it. Most of these gobs have plenty of dough just in from sea and throw it around like dirt and these vultures gobble it up as fast as they show it.
These women are as cheap as dirt and talk just as cheap/ Some guys like it but others don't. They give me the definite impression of being morons who have made themselves cheaper and lower than the rottenest prostitute on earth. These money mad men use these women to advantage as there is nothing like a woman, a cheap one, to loosen up a drunken sailor either using her cheap talk or her cheap and dirty actions. What suckers these sailors are! Enough of Main Street now. We went to Pershing Square, the Boston Common of L.A. and got into a few of those arguments that are so conspicuous thru out the park. We would listen for a while then get into the argument. It was really good fun and I enjoyed it a lot. There were a lot of Red there so you can see for yourself L.A. is a nice city but like the rest of the coast it too is money mad and really goes about doing a good job of it. Outside of Main St & Pershing Square I didn't see much too much of L.A. but what I've seen of it I've given you a pretty fair description of. Sunday I went to Hollywood and saw the town. It is no more different from any other town out here that outside the radio studio you never would know the difference. Its a lot different from most peoples imagination have it set up and the only thing out of the ordinary would be the studios which I didn't see. We had a couple of drinks at Sardis, of radio fame, and a few other spots. They have some really beautiful places as far as clubs are concerned and prices aren't to high much to my surprise. The people are as natural as most people but it just happens that they have famous people here. Instead of staying aloof and snooty they make a barrel of dough in the curious out of town people who come into town.
Well honey I've got to close now and get me some sleep.
I'm on the beam in my correspondence at last so I'm going to sleep well again. My brother Tom is on his way overseas by the way but as for Aleo he's still the same. A lot of the guys at Willow Grove have shipped out but Aleo still lingers on. Joe is still in the S. Pacific and expects to get home around September or October. I'm still going strong as is obvious so take it easy. By the way tell Hannie I'll take you off her hands at my earliest possible opportunity which will be at such time when Uncle Sam's Navy gives me the time place and opportunity. As it is now I'm indisposed at present so that is that. Well I've got to go now so take it easy and keep moving you're bowling will ruin you.
All my love
Always
John"
On May 8, Oskar Schindler gave a speech and urged the Jews who worked for him not to pursue revenge attacks. An original list of 1200 of his workers at the Plaszow concentration camp was found in 1999.
May 9, Soviet citizens celebrated their WW II victory in Europe at Red Square. This became an annual holiday to commemorate the 27 million Soviet citizens who died in the war.
"May 10 1945
My dearest Ellen,
I hadn't any real intentions of writing to you today but I've just built up an urge to do so.
I hope I can concentrate on this letter as I am now being constantly distracted by flight of fighters practicing landings on our strip. My greatest fear is that they will fly in the window at my side. They are about fifty or sixty feet high passing over our hut.
As it is I've nothing to do today as I've not been assigned any detail so I'll hang around and take it easy. Today being a holy day we are having a Mass at 4:30 this afternoon so that will consume some of my time. This afternoon also I must go to the next camp and get issued my greens. I'll be glad to get them as they are easier to keep clean than the dungarees. I sent you a picture the other night how did you like it?
Well honey in order to keep from beating around the bush I also received your letter of last Sunday. Do you remember it? What a woman! I have only one regret. I wish that you were my personnel officer and then I could get a leave any time I wanted it. But it just so happens that you aren't in that position. As far as getting married I suggested that I believe a while back and told you we would do so on my first big leave. Well honey I haven't changed my mind in the least. We will get married on my next leave if you are willing or not. I mean it.
The whole trouble is though I don't know when my next leave will be, if it will come at all. As for my deserving it I agree with you but a couple of million other guys deserve it also. I'll do the very best I can but I won't promise anything. All I want is that you don't get all flustered up and if no leave comes have your hopes crash all around you. Use my philosophy for a while, will you. Prepare for the worst honey and hope and pray for the best. Sometimes I think you have a streak of jealousy in you and also a stubborn nature. The girls in your office were envious of you when I was home now let me see how you can take it. And remember this also, if we do get married I still have to go overseas married or not so remember I'm going anyway. ----------------
I tried to get something for my mother for Sunday but no luck which reminds me give your mother my love for Mothers Day. I hope this letter gets there on time.
Well honey I've got to close now so take it easy and remember what I have written so till I hear again I love ~~ always
John"
May 16, the Nazi submarine U-234 surrendered to US forces at Portsmouth, NH. It had been bound for Tokyo with 10 containers of uranium oxide. The atomic material ended up in the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
"May 21, 1945
My dearest Ellen,
Again, how do you do! I just got back from a weekend in Hollywood and Los Angeles and will now wait till my next weekend before I attempt to go out again. In spite of rumors and reports to the contrary this Hollywood and Los Angeles are dreary and monotonous as far as liberties are concerned. In Los Angeles they have Main Street that is lower I think than Scolley Square or Dover Street at home. Put Izzy Orts the Silver Dollar etc all on one street throw in a lot of fast broken down women a pack of clip artists and you have Main Street Los Angeles. The sailors keep the place alive and prosperous and these civilians really haul them over the coals. Hollywood is respectable as fas as conditions are concerned but one trip around is all you need to see all you want to see. I don't figure I'll make another liberty around there but I may give Santa Monica or Santa Barbara a fling. Hollywood is just Fox films, NBC. studios CBS. studios and the Palladium and with a little snooping you will find Sardis the Brown Derby Earl Carrolls etc. All the stars out here are like sailors. Everyone is out to get as much out of them as they can and as quick as they can. I've finally come to the conclusion that it doesn't pay to be famous as you never have any piece or contentment. The poor guys can't have a beer without having a thousand people watching him.
I got a couple of letters from you prior to the weekend and I'd like to answer your perennial favorite right now. As for my getting home the chances are very, very slim. We are supposed to be going thru a training course & that makes leaves out of the question right now. I have warned you a few times not to count on my getting a leave as I didn't want to promise you anything and then have you disappointed. Take it for granted honey that I won't be getting any. I'm glad you got your hope chest at long last as I was beginning to believe you would have to make one of your own. Now let's see what you can do with it. As for my picture, at first I was afraid to send it but then I gave in & so now you have it. There is a story to go with them too. The night we had them taken we lost them and about a week later we spotted them pinned up on a bulletin board at the Main Gate. It was just pure luck that we got them back. I am gaining a little weight but I'll lose it again as soon as we start doing some exercises. My buddy is older - he's 28 or 29 I think.
I would have liked to have been at the shindig but I'm glad you had a good time. Don't be jealous of her as your time is due as soon as U. Sam makes me available to be available. Well I'll close now so that I can get this out on the early mail if possible.
All my love always
John
PS My brother Joe has gone over - Philippines I guess."
May 21, Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Nazi Gestapo, was captured. Two days later he committed suicide while imprisoned in Luneburg, Germany.
May 23, Winston Churchill, the head of Britain’s coalition government, resigned pending the upcoming general election. He continued to serve as the head of the caretaker government which lasted till he lost the election on July 26 and officially resigned as PM.
May 24 1945
Hi Honey
I'm going to write you a quickie as I haven't much time. They have me going like mad all week and my spare time is really spare. In fact I don't think it exists. We are having a training schedule all week so things are really buzzing for me. I got two letters from you yesterday and I was as usual very pleased to receive them.
One question in particular caught my eye, the one where you said I had made a host of friends as usual. In camp here, yes, outside no. The only friends I want outside are the dead ones as they are the only ones that won't do you any harm. Sometimes I wish they would all walk straight out to sea and never return. As for my singing you to sleep I'd do it gladly if the opportunity ever arose but it seems now to be out of the question. As for missing you, you know doggone well I do. (Song .... now) I miss you like anything but I try to stop thinking about it as it won't do me no good. I don't think you would want me to come home with a map of grey hair. Well I've got to close now so take care honey.
Love alway John"
June 9, Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki declared that Japan will fight to the last rather than accept unconditional surrender.
June 22, the battle for Okinawa officially ended; 12,520 Americans and 90,000 Japanese soldiers, plus 130,000 civilians were killed in the 81-day campaign. The battle for Okinawa proved to be the bloodiest in the Pacific Theater. A huge assemblage of American forces from both Admiral Chester W. Nimitz's Central Pacific drive and General Douglas MacArthur’s Southwest Pacific thrust converged on Okinawa--over 180,000 troops. For three months they faced more than 100,000 Japanese troops of Lt. Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima's Thirty-Second Army. Tokyo needed time to prepare for the expected American invasion of the home islands, so Ushijima wanted to make his adversary wrench each hill and ridge from his well-armed men.
June 26, The United Nations Conference on International Organization (UNCIO) was held in San Francisco. Officials gathered to draft a UN Charter, and 50 countries signed the Charter on this date at what is now the Herbst Theater. This signifies the birth of the UN.
"June 3 1945
My dearest Ellen,
Well here I am again, back on the grind again. I just returned from a 'vacation' out on one of our islands here and after a days rest I'll return to the steady swing of things. I left for the islands last Tuesday and returned yesterday, Saturday morning. What an ordeal it turned out to be. We left the pier here at 7 o'clock in the morning and after six hours we landed on San Nicolas island about 70 miles out to sea. It is to my way of thinking one of the barrenest windiest and hilliest islands in the pacific. The wind blows from the N.E. and that is the way the island runs from N.E. to S.E. Right thru the middle of the island run three stages of hills running up to about 1700 feet. From sea level to the first stage in either side of the central hump you have to climb a steep slope for about 1000 ft. It really is murder. The island in itself is four miles wide and 12 miles long. We bivouacked on the first level with the wind blowing at a steady 25 miles per hour. It was really a kind of stiff blow. That bivouac idea is alright for eskimos. We landed with a 50 pound pack apiece had to wade ashore the water up to our hips then march up those slopes and along the island for seven miles still toting the pack. The hills we went over make Prospect Hill in Waltham look like a hill of ants.
After we hit our camp area they found it to be the wrong spot but taking pity on us they let us stay for the night. The ground was our bed and pup tents were our roof. We ate K & C rations for four days and slept on the ground for four nights. After we were all settled it wasn't two bad and when our departure time arrived you never saw a happier crew. You couldn't hold them. The shore wasn't bad as we spent all our spare time there trying to find something but never succeeding in finding anything but shell fish sea weed and sand. It was a good experience but outside of that nothing more. I wouldn't want it again. I got a letter from you the only mail we got out there but couldn't answer.
Ellen honey you told me that you refused to go to the Touraine & Plaza with Madeline - Thanks a million. I see to much on my traipsing around to advise you to stay away from those joints and I mean joints. All they are are the likes of the Silver Dollar and the rest of them dressed up to kill. If you ever did go around there you would have a worried character on your hands. I trust you with all my heart and will never get you in doubt but to keep me happy honey just make that 'out of bounds' to you. Let Madeline go where she please. I don't think about her only you. Remember I love you with all my heart and want you as I left you.
I'm surprised to hear than Gin is stepping out but I figure you as having more guts & gumption. You don't miss a thing at home kid only a lot of heartache and misery. Well honey I've got to close for now so take it easy. I miss you a lot so till I write to you again.
My love always
John"
Reading about my father's experience on San Nicolas island, makes me think about the military who were in action and not just drilling. God help them.
I don't know what Touraine and Plaza was - I tried looking it up on www.ancestry.com and found the Touraine Hotel at 62 Boylston Street at the corner of Tremon Street - telephone number Hancock 3500.
I don't know what the Combat Zone was like in the 1940s, but the area near the Touraine Hotel was at least on the fringes of the Combat Zone that I remember. Sailors from the Charlestown Navy Yard frequented the area. There was a USO on Boylston Street in the 1960s when we would be going into Boston to shop and walk through the Boston Common and Boston Garden. We would see lots of sailors - I can't remember if there were soldiers. I suppose the closeness to the Combat Zone was why my father didn't want my mother going in there.
The picture below shows 62 Boylston Street on the right - it is on the corner of Tremont Street - the Masonic Lodge is across the street to the left. The Colonial Hotel is back down Boylston Street the other way. The USO and the Sugar Shack used to be in the same block as the Colonial.
June 9, Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki declared that Japan will fight to the last rather than accept unconditional surrender.
"June 10, 1945
My dearest Ellen
It seems or it has been quite a while since I've written to you so again I guess I better amend my ways and start off fresh on a new lease on life. I have been busy though and with every thing in a state of confusion as usual I haven't been able to do much writing of one sort or another. Since I've hit this place that God long ago forsook I have moved four times and haven't as yet got myself adjusted to any of them. I'm beginning to feel like a tramp just being pushed from one spot to another. Every place we go to it seems gets a we bit worse than the last place. This place we are at now is worse than all of them if it is at all possible. No water no nothing. As far as living is concerned we live in large tents but that isn't too bad. We have hot and cold water to wash with but not for drinking. You see the water we wash with is distilled sea water and it's really a bit salty. Our drinking water is hung up on poles. The water being in canvas bags and does it taste lousy. Now we're located along side an airstrip which we are now operating. There are two sides of the strip one good & one bad. You guessed it we got the lousy side. We haven't done any thing yet only play pinocle (?) as a time killer. I guess if we play it much more we will be world's champs at the game.
As far as my address is concerned now that I think if it, it is just as written on the envelope. That Bedillion place is about three miles from here and is the center of operations for all this area. It can't be beat as there isn't any thing on earth that's any worse. Wait till I get back in the Navy.
I haven't heard from my brothers for quite a spell so I haven't any news to forward to you. I guess they are kept hopping and can't quite catch up.
Well honey I haven't much more to write about at present only that I miss you a lot really I do and I still love you just as much as ever. It seems this place is getting me glum so if I sound blue I guess you can. Figure it out. Well honey I'll close for now and will write again real soon. I hope something happens quick.
My love alway
John"
"June 14, 1945
My dearest Ellen,
As you can see I am starting a new leaf on Life but since there isn't too much happening I guess I can catch up on my correspondence to you. Lately I have been slipping off I know but as you know training and a mess of other details used up my time. We are alongside an airstrip now and there isn't any thing much doing. Today I had a physical and wound up getting one shot. That wasn't too bad. They told me that I had high blood pressure but that was taken care of by the doctor. A common ordinary variation of my blood pressure due to exercise or nervousness. Nothing to worry about. It was almost the same test they gave us when we came in but not as thorough. A lot of guys came up with deformities they never knew they had. Two guys had one leg shorter than the other, one was a half inch the other guys was almost two inches. All in all we are a pretty healthy breed there being nothing wrong with us that a few weeks good hard work wouldn't cure. The training mostly is a lot of lectures and demonstrations so most of us are getting soft around the middle. I think I'll resort to some good pick and shovel work one of these days to get me hardened up some. As for California weather it's not bad. It's regular as a clock. It's foggy all morning and the sun comes out at about noon. The evenings are cool and pleasant. The weather as a whole is nice but that's about all in California that is nice from my point of view which isn't much.
The queerest people on earth are in this state and I mean queer in every sense of the word. Men and women alike. The state legislature is supposed to be liberal but it's just a machine geared up to make crime lust filth and indecency a paying proposition. I've never seen nor heard the likes of it. Only about a week ago they passed a law whereby if a serviceman's wife gave birth to a child not of her husband the state would take care of it and the husband would never be informed about it. Beat if if you can. Stuff like that is what riles me, no fooling.
I finally got a letter from my brother Tom and he is in the Pacific somewhere. They get a visit from the Japs every now and then but it ain't any thing to worry about. The foxholes they dig keep caving in on them, that being their biggest growl. He said it wasn't too bad at all just depends on what way you look at it. It mustn't be bad if he isn't complaining because he would grumble at the gates of heaven. By the way how did you like the 'Valley of Decision'? See the picture its really good. Well honey I've got to close now and sign off for the night. I miss you an awful lot and still love you as much as ever I did. I guess I'm trained that way but seeing some of the characters they have around here I'm terribly glad I love you and have you than the very best of them ~ confusing I know but I love you.
Alway
John
The movie 'The Valley of Decision' was a 1945 drama about an Irish maid falling for the son of her wealthy boss - their fathers both disapproved.
June 21, Japanese forces on Okinawa surrendered to the Americans. American soldiers on Okinawa found the body of the Japanese commander, Lt. Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima, who had committed suicide. The embattled destroyer USS Laffey survived horrific damage from attacks by 22 Japanese aircraft off Okinawa.
June 22, The World War II battle for Okinawa officially ended; 12,520 Americans and 90,000 Japanese soldiers, plus 130,000 civilians were killed in the 81-day campaign. The battle for Okinawa proved to be the bloodiest in the Pacific Theater. A huge assemblage of American forces from both Admiral Chester W. Nimitz's Central Pacific drive and General Douglas MacArthur’s Southwest Pacific thrust converged on Okinawa--over 180,000 troops. For three months they faced more than 100,000 Japanese troops of Lt. Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima's Thirty-Second Army. Tokyo needed time to prepare for the expected American invasion of the home islands, so Ushijima wanted to make his adversary wrench each hill and ridge from his well-armed men.
June 26, The United Nations Conference on International Organization (UNCIO) was held in San Francisco. Officials gathered to draft a UN Charter, and 50 countries signed the Charter on this date at what is now the Herbst Theater. This signifies the birth of the UN. The Charter was drafted in the Garden Room of the Fairmont Hotel.
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