Eyewitness to history: Museum acquires Wellsburg man’s photo of Japanese surrender

WELLSBURG -- As Jim Brockman, director of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Museum, was sorting more than 100 photos taken by a local veteran during his service in Japan and the Philippines, he encountered an unusual image.

Brockman discovered that William "Jake" Churchman, a technical sergeant in the Army's 232nd Communications Co., was aboard the USS Missouri for the official surrender by Japan to the Allied nations on Sept. 2, 1945.

Brockman noted it may seem unusual for a soldier to be aboard the battleship.

But he said Gen. Douglas MacArthur had been charged with coordinating the occasion and called for multiple naval vessels and about 2,000 military personnel to be on hand as a show of strength "in case the Japanese reneged on their agreement."

Brockman added MacArthur also ordered for hundreds of Army Air Force planes, including armed B-29 bombers, to fly over the ship following the signing.

He said the angle of the photo leads him to believe it was taken from a gun turret about three stories above the ship's port navigation bridge, where the signing took place.

A photo taken by another attendee shows numerous sailors and soldiers perched on turrets and decks overlooking the scene.

The 23-minute ceremony came following several years of fighting worldwide and the deaths of millions of military personnel and civilians on both sides spurred by the threat of world domination by Nazi forces.

Brockman noted the signers included 11 Japanese officials, including Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and Gen. Yoshijiro Umezu, chief of the Army General Staff, who were dressed in morning coats and top hats.

Signing for the Allied nations who had fought against the Japanese and Germans were MacArthur, who signed as Supreme Commander; U.S. Admiral Chester Nimitz and military leaders of China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands and New Zealand.

Brockman said MacArthur brought several pens for the signings, including one containing plum colored ink that he later gave to his wife.

He noted Canadian Col. Lawrence Moore Cosgrave, who was blind in one eye from a World War I injury, signed on the line below his pre-printed name, instead of above it, causing the signers who followed him to sign on the incorrect line.

U.S. Army Gen. Richard Sutherland corrected the errors by crossing out the pre-printed names and writing in the correct names, as well as his own initials, below the corresponding signatures.

Brockman noted each side had its own version of the agreement, which was known as the Instrument of Surrender.

A replica of the U.S. document is on display at the museum, which is within the Brooke County Public Library. With it are the photo Churchman brought back from the ceremony, a photo of Churchman while in the Army and the jacket and cap from his Army uniform.

Carol Churchman said her father was 5-foot-6 and weighed 135 pounds when he entered the Army at age 30 in 1944. She said he had attempted to enlist earlier but was found not fit because he was blind in one eye.

"He wanted to be in because all his buddies were. He felt he wasn't doing his fair share," Carol said.

Carol said though her father was accepted for limited service and assigned to the Army's signal corps, he was to be part of a Japan invasion force until the country issued its surrender.

She said instead her father "was part of the mopping up operations" in the Philippine Islands, which had been invaded by the Japanese.

"Most of the Japanese had gone, but there were still pockets of them here and there," said Carol, who noted while her father didn't see combat, he was proud to have served.

From the Philippines Churchman went to Japan, where Carol said he found many malnourished civilians.

He told of how he and other G.I.s would give nutritional bars from their rations to starving Japanese.

Carol said a grateful family gave him the pearls she wore to an unveiling of the display on Wednesday.

"He met a lot of people. I think he learned the Japanese civilians weren't any different from the American civilians," she said.

Churchman has donated more than 100 photos taken in Japan by her father and Bert Shapiro, a fellow soldier and friend from the Bronx.

Brockman said the pictures will be preserved digitally with the help of Monica Forsthoefel, an intern from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, for future visitors to the museum and its website.

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, with appointments available by calling (304) 737-7295.

(Scott can be contacted at wscott@heraldstaronline.com.)