Description:


Good content sailor's journal, 6.5 x 8 in., written by CIC officer Lieutenant "C. Henson" and containing approx. 100-120 pages of text providing daily detailed accounts of Hansen's military service from July 6, 1945 to October 31, 1945. Henson begins the journal with his five days aboard a USS Saratoga training cruise, in which Henson partially details a "simulated attack...by both bombing and rocket raiders as well as the Kamikaze". Henson's later entries discuss his transfer to the U.S.S. Alabama, which read in part: "�I have been assigned as a CIC officer aboard the USS Alabama BB 60 a 35,000 ton wagon - The 'A' has been operating in the Pacific for some time...spent day packing and getting squared away...August 14...I was 'offloaded'...at least that gave me a day's respite, since the war is over and maybe my orders will be changed..." Later stationed on the Alabama near Tokyo Bay, Henson notably details the events before and during the formal surrender of Japan. In part: "August 25...Orders to shoot down any Jap Plane that comes within 75 miles of the formation...no planes, except friendlies, have been airborne in the vicinity...August 26...everything does seem to be going nicely for the occupation...August 28...The U.S.S. Missouri is where the main event is to take place. South Dakota, Iowa will also be in the bay...B29s flying all over the island. POWs are getting attention...August 29...Our sector is to the East of Sagami Wan [Bay] - the entrance to Tokyo Bay...Several planes claim that one thing or another is wrong with their planes so that they have to land - to be the among the first to land on the homeland of Japan...August 31...It seems that we, TG 38.1, are merely marking time until the surrender is formally signed sometime Sunday (the 2nd)...1 Sept 1945...We have had nothing to do but cruise around circles around here..." Perhaps most notably however, Henson provides an elaborate description of the formal surrender of Japan, in part: "Sept 2...at 0930 the ceremonies of the actual surrender took place... Pres. Truman at the conclusion broadcast from Washington...proclaimed September 2,1945 as V-J Day (Henson underlines and bolds)...God grant it may be a lasting peace! Just as the ceremonies were to conclude, when the signing was almost complete - the sun broke through the clouds and showed brilliantly the tan faces of those who gave freely of their services and who were spared to witness this momentous occasion...MacArthur when he was ready to sign pushed the Jap documents aside and did not make further reference...treated the Japs with aloofness...he arose, said nothing to the Japs, and walked briskly off the quarterdeck...MacA kept the Japs waiting 4 or 5 minutes and the meeting progressed from there..." Much more content, including many more accounts from Henson's post-war service. Some initial pages disbound, else very good condition.

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July 14, 2020 11:00 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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