http://www.cneti.com/~chs/ww2.htm

At noon on August 15 1945, a personal proclamation from the Emperor was broadcast. This was the first time that any Japanese emperor had ever spoken to his subjects. The night before the broadcast there had been an unsuccessful attempt by rebellious elements of the Imperial Guard Division in Tokyo to seize the recorded message and prevent its broadcast.

Once the Japanese had agreed to sign the Instrument of Surrender that would finally end WWII, there remained difficulties with communication, distance, language, and so forth. Therefore, it took several days for the actual fighting to wind down following the Japanese decision to surrender. Great caution was used to ensure the safety of those empowered by the Japanese Emperor to make any arrangements the Allies directed to enable the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers to set up the formal surrender. It was later learned that Captain Yasuna Ozono, who commanded the 302 Kokutai (naval air corps) stationed near Tokyo, committed hara-kiri the night prior to the departure of the Japanese delegation because his officers did not fully support him in his pledge to destroy the transport planes. Another threat to the envoys still existed from Japan's Tokko Tai (air attack units) who were threatening to shoot down the Japanese emissaries, thus preventing Japan's surrender.

There was the perception that the Allies had to avoid any chance of another sneak attack even this late in the war. And so, the little island of Ie Shima became a place of strategic importance. MacArthur ordered that the Japanese delegation travel in clearly marked planes to a secret destination where the delegation would be transferred to American planes for the remainder of the trip to Manila.

On General MacArthur's orders, the Japanese planes were painted white and large green crosses replaced the emblem of the rising sun. These crosses symbolized that rather than being on a hostile mission, the planes carried 16 representatives of the Japanese Government sent to Manila by Emperor Hirohito to assist Allied forces with the surrender and occupation of Japan.

On August 19 the delegates boarded the planes for their unknown destination. When they were in the air, the pilots opened sealed orders to discover that their destination was Ie Shima, the island where Ernie Pyle had died four months earlier. The Japanese bombers were given specific flight coordinates and were to be escorted by American fighter planes. As the two planes moved into Allied airspace, their aircraft was instructed to use the identifying call signs of Bataan 1 and Bataan 2.

When the Allied planes first approached the planes carrying the Japanese delegation, the Japanese planes radioed the password, Bataan. The reassuring reply was, "We are Bataan's watchdog. Follow us." The twelve fighters flew around, above, and below. They did acrobatics, diving past the slow two-engined Bettys. The high spirited acrobatics of the escorts did not detract from their determination to protect the Japanese envoys so that the threat from the kamikazes was over. Top cover for the Bettys was provided by B-25s from the 345th Bomb Group.

General Kawabe was on the second plane to land and it parked immediately behind the first. He was the first to leave the plane and his officers followed by rank. Having unloaded from the Japanese bomber with all their luggage, the Japanese delegation prepared to be received by the American delegation before reloading on an American transport plane, a C-54, which was responsible for transporting them to Manila.

The head of the Japanese delegation was the first to load onto the C-54 in preparation for leaving for the Philippines. In all, the landing, receiving of the delegation, and loading for transporting to the Philippines took approximately 20 minutes.

The Japanese and the Americans specialists worked through the night of August 19th and into the early morning hours of the 20th. And the translators worked all night to put MacArthur's requirements into accurate Japanese. It was very, very important that all documents be correctly translated so that there would be no misunderstandings.

All of the envoys could not be transported in the one remaining Betty; therefore, the group and documents were divided so that if one plane were to be lost, the other would carry the conference documents to Tokyo. Kawabe asked for volunteers to remain with the Betty until it could be repaired. Late in the afternoon, the first of the two converted Bettys left for Tokyo with General Kawabe and seven other delegates on board. It was almost midnight when the sleeping delegates were awakened by the pilot who ordered them to prepare for a crash landing. A fuel tank had sprung a leak and they were heading for the nearest land. Everyone was instructed to put on life jackets in case the plane failed to make landfall.

Their greatest concern was for the safety of the documents; therefore, they were entrusted to a delegate, Okazaki, who had represented Japan in the 1924 Olympics. Soon the engines ran low on gas and began missing and the plane lost altitude. The bomber roughly skipped along the sea until it hit something and suddenly came to a stop. The pilots stumbled from their cockpit. One pilot checked on the passengers while the other moved to open the rear door. As he did, water gushed into the plane. The pilot stepped out and instead of disappearing under the sea, the water reached only to his knees. Amazingly, the pilots had landed the Betty in the surf along a beach near Hamamatsu. They were still 130 miles from Tokyo but there were no fatalities and the precious documents were safe.

A fisherman showed the soldiers to a phone and they called Hamamatsu Air Base for help. By seven that morning of August 21, Kawabe and the other delegates left Hamamatsu for Tokyo with the surrender documents. Later that same morning, the envoys who had remained on Ie Shima left on their repaired aircraft. These delegates had an uneventful trip.


Although of great historical interest, neither of the two white-painted Betty bombers that transported the Japanese delegation survives. One plane arrived safely in Tokyo. After leaving Ie Shima for Tokyo, the other Betty crash landed in the surf of a beach near Hamamatsu, about 130 miles from its destination. That plane submerged and was not salvaged. The other Betty went to Kisarazu Air Base and was later intentionally destroyed by fire.

__________________