Eighty years ago, on August 30, 1945, Gen. Douglas MacArthur landed unarmed at Atsugi airfield in preparation for the surrender ceremony, which was set to take place on the battleship Missouri on September 2. “Of all the amazing deeds in the war, I regard General MacArthur’s personal landing at Atsugi as the greatest of the lot,” said Winston Churchill. Was this merely hyperbole on Churchill’s part? After all, Churchill had witnessed the bravery of British pilots during the Battle of Britain. He knew about the courage of the men who stormed the beaches at Normandy and the islands of the Pacific War. He understood the bravery of British seamen. Bravery was a daily occurrence for Allied armies, navies, and air forces throughout the war. How does a landing by one man at a Japanese airfield after Japanese leaders accepted the surrender terms of the Potsdam Declaration stack up against the deeds of valor in battle after battle of that terrible war? (RELATED: Harry Truman at Potsdam — As Naïve As FDR)
Churchill, to be sure, can be considered something of an expert on bravery and courage. He read about it in the pages of history. He wrote about it in books about the Duke of Marlborough, the history of the English-speaking peoples, and the fighting in both World Wars. He exhibited bravery and courage himself in Southwest Asia, the Sudan, South Africa, and on the Western Front in the First World War. His assessment of MacArthur’s bravery at Atsugi, therefore, cannot be dismissed out of hand.
To understand just how brave and courageous MacArthur’s actions at Atsugi were, it is necessary to explain the context of the landing. Only about three weeks earlier, the United States had dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japanese soldiers and citizens had been preparing for the U.S. and Allied invasion of Honshu and Kyushu, where Japan’s leaders anticipated suffering more than 10 million casualties. Thousands of Kamikaze strikes were being readied. More than 60 Japanese cities had already been pounded and incinerated by American bombers. And even after the atomic bombings, many of Japan’s soldiers wanted to fight on to an even more bitter end. (RELATED: Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the Man Who Ended the War)
It was only two weeks earlier, on August 14, that Japan had formally accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. Segments of Japan’s army opposed the surrender. When Emperor Hirohito recorded a surrender speech to be broadcast on August 15, the recordings (there were two) were hidden to avoid their seizure by disgruntled army officers who unsuccessfully tried to prevent the recordings from being aired. It was an attempted coup d’état and included the murder of a lieutenant general of the Imperial Guards Division, and the planned arrest and possible assassination of the emperor.
Historian Richard Frank, in his book Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire, noted that a brief insurrection among naval and naval air troops broke out at Atsugi within two weeks of MacArthur’s arrival. Japanese forces continued to fight in Manchuria and China, including an intense battle near Mutanchiang against Soviet forces that lasted until August 22. And Atsugi airfield was home to some of Japan’s Kamikaze pilots. In short, Japan’s military spirit had not been completely eradicated. Instead, as historian Seymour Morris Jr. noted, “[t]he country was swarming with disgruntled militarists and terrorists for whom killing was an act of honor.”
He was, therefore, the perfect target for those in Japan who wanted the war to continue.
MacArthur was the most famous Allied commander of the Pacific War. He had kept his promise to return to retake the Philippines after Japan’s victory there. He had led American forces to victories in New Guinea. He was to command the armies that would have invaded the main Japanese islands had the war continued. He was, therefore, the perfect target for those in Japan who wanted the war to continue. His assassination would perhaps undo Japan’s surrender.
MacArthur’s top aides warned him of the risk he was taking by landing at Atsugi. Gen. Richard Sutherland said, “My God, General, the emperor is worshipped as a real god, yet they still tried to assassinate him. What kind of a target does that make you?” The journalist John Gunther wrote that “Professors who studied Japan all their lives, military experts who knew every nook and cranny of the Japanese character, thought that MacArthur was taking a frightful risk.” During the plane ride to Atsugi, MacArthur told his aides to remove their pistols. “If they intend to kill us,” he said, “sidearms will be useless. And nothing will impress them like a show of absolute fearlessness.”
Throughout his distinguished military career, MacArthur had repeatedly demonstrated absolute fearlessness — in Mexico, on the Western Front in the First World War, where he earned seven Silver Stars among other military decorations, and in the Southwest Pacific campaign of World War II, where he repeatedly and bravely exposed himself to enemy fire. The courage and bravery he showed on August 30, 1945, after landing unarmed and greatly outnumbered at Atsugi, was simply part of his character. As Seymour Morris noted, “All his life he had taken risks on the battlefield and never got hit. … Only an incurable romantic would do what MacArthur was doing, descending unarmed onto a kamikaze airfield like a swashbuckling Errol Flynn.”
Just after 2:00 pm, MacArthur’s plane — the Bataan — set down on the airfield. MacArthur lit his corncob pipe, walked down the stairway, and was greeted by Gen. Robert Eichelberger. MacArthur exuded supreme confidence and calmness despite the risks, just as he had done throughout his sterling military career. He came through that perilous landing unharmed and went on to govern Japan brilliantly for the next five years. Perhaps Churchill was right.
READ MORE from Francis P. Sempa:
August 23, 1939: Another Date That Should Live in Infamy