August 15, 1945: USS Concord fires the last shot of World War II – August 15, 2015 marks the 70th anniversary

Other warships claimed to have fired the last shot of World War II, but that distinction goes to the USS. Concord CL-10, a four-column light cruiser named for the Massachusetts town where the first ordered shot of the American Revolution was fired, “the shot heard around the world.”

“I had no idea I was present for this historic event,” Thaddeus Buczko of Salem, Massachusetts, told me in a recent interior, “until I read about it many years later in a veterans’ magazine.” At the time, Buczko, 19, was serving in the US Navy aboard the USS. Bears (pronounced “barce”). Tea Bears was one of the destroyers that made up Task Force 92 serving in the North Pacific Ocean, along with light cruisers Concord, richmond, Y Trenton.

On August 15, 1945, Nazi Germany surrendered to Allied forces in Europe (May 8), and atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki, Japan (August 9). Did Buczko and his shipmates have a feeling that the war was ending? “No,” Buczko says. “We heard that the Germans had surrendered, but we were in the Pacific. We were still at war. We heard about the bombs being dropped in August, but we didn’t know the consequences and we had no idea what was going on.” what happened next. We were still under orders.

On August 15, 1945, Task Force 92 bombed maritime and coastal installations on the Japanese Kuril Islands. Tea Concord was tasked with opening fire on Shasukotan Island, firing “round after round” with her “twin six-inch guns” and the five-inch guns of Task Force destroyers, including the Bearsaccording to Fred A. Lumb’s account that Thaddeus Buczko read years later.

Lumb continues: “Finally, Captain CA Rumble, commanding the Concord and the small working group gave the order for a ceasefire. The destroyers’ guns fell silent. About a minute later, Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Brand, the artillery officer, high up in forward fire control, saw to it that the cannon fired one more round. Concord.“Because the last shot missed just before the ceasefire went into effect, the ship had to receive special permission from the Task Force Commander to fire one last time instead of retrieving the ammunition manually. That was the last shot of the war.

Ensign Robert P. Crossley of the Concord described what happened next: “News of Japan’s acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Surrender…was received aboard the Concord by radio while sailing to the Aleutians after the final offensive attack of the Navy against Japanese territory…the shot heard around the world from the musket of the Minutemen of Concord and Lexington on April 19, 1775 rang out with a fury even bigger. and meaning when this proud bearer of the minute hand tradition fired the last naval salvo of World War II, a few seconds after 8:06 p.m. (Japan time).”

Fred Lumb concludes: “Within an hour, Ens. Robert Crossley was in the coding room, just off the radio booth, typing of concord they claim to have fired the last American shot of the war.” The Navy soon verified their claim.

The crew on board Bears received the news of Japan’s surrender over loudspeaker, with very few details. Buczko recalls, “Even when we were told that the Japanese had surrendered, we wondered if the Japanese ships and pilots knew about it. We were always on the alert. We could still be attacked.”

As for hearing that the war was over? “We were all practical,” says Buczko. We were very tired. There was no euphoria, no jubilation, as is heard throughout the United States.” In the Aleutian Islands, the Bears and the Concord they repaired damage to ships, replenished, rearmed, and prepared for orders. They prepared for boarding parties. “We knew we were going to get in,” explains Buczko, “but we didn’t know when or how.”

On September 2, 1945, the Japanese and Americans signed the official surrender document aboard the USS. Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

In the Aleutian Islands, orders came in for the Bears and the Hood, another destroyer in the Task Force, to rendezvous with a Japanese ship carrying the emissaries who would sign the US Naval Emergency Occupation Order No. 1. The Order would turn over the Ominato Guard District Area to the United States, specifically: The islands of Honshu and Hokkaido between latitudes 40 degrees 30 minutes and 42 degrees North and longitudes 139 degrees and 142 degrees East are declared the Ominato Guard District Emergency Occupation Zone.”

Tea Bears Y hood met the Japanese delegation ship in the Tsugaru Strait, “a fifteen-mile-wide body of water separating the north coast of Honshu and the island of Hokaido,” Quartermaster Edwin E. Douglass wrote in his account of the day.

QM Douglass continues: “The Japanese crew had painted a white cross on their ship’s funnel, the emblem of surrender. As the ships drew closer, it was a tense moment for all the men on board until the Japanese hoisted the international code of flags by giving we can assure you that his intentions were strictly peace-loving”. Still, while one of the hood small boats went out to transport the emissaries to the Teddy, tea Bears and the hood they surrounded the Japanese ship, guns trained on their potential target. Tea Bears he also clashed with US Marines and media personnel. While everyone went up to the BearsBuczko was on top manning two 36″ searchlights, watching it all, but having “no idea what was going on,” he recalls.

The Japanese ship guided the Bears and the hood through the heavily mined Tsugaru Straights to Matsu Bay for occupation service. “When we arrived,” recalls Buczko, “I remember watching the Japanese rush out of town through the mountains, carrying their belongings or using anything with wheels. I think they were afraid of the occupying forces.”

The United States and Japan signed Emergency Occupation Order No. 1 on September 9, 1945 aboard the USS. panamint, the flagship of Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, North Pacific Area and Force Commander. Among the Order’s instructions, the Japanese would provide:

  • Lists of all “Japanese ground, air, and anti-aircraft units, showing locations and strength in officers and men”
  • Lists of all aircraft (military, naval, and civil), warships, and merchant ships, their type, status, and location
  • Detailed information, including maps, of “all mines, minefields and other obstacles to movement by land, sea or air”
  • “Locations and descriptions of all military installations and establishments… together with plans and drawings of all such fortifications, installations and establishments”
  • “Locations of all camps and other places of detention of all United Nations prisoners of war”

Other stipulations considered minesweeping and the provision of transportation, manpower, materials, and facilities as per Admiral Fletcher’s instructions.

In his introductory remarks to the Occupation Order, Admiral Fletcher expressed his hope that the occupation would continue without “any incident which would only increase the sufferings of the Japanese people.”

Concluding his personal account of the signing, QM Douglass wrote: “Another drastic and useless war had ended, another lesson had been learned by testifying that man wraps himself in a mantle of ideals and luxuries, then with a match he sets the world on fire, finding he was also destroying himself with the pursuit of leadership and fame.”

The officers and crew of the Bears held a flag-raising ceremony at Ominato Base. QM Douglass observed: “Today, the ancient empire stands under the flags of the United Nations. A destroyer and her crew received a ‘well done’ when the stars and stripes were raised over Ominato, proving that nations combined will oppress all who intend to destroy the human race.”

Heading home and conclusions

After a period of occupation duty, the USS Concord she sailed for Boston to participate in Navy Day on October 27, 1945. According to the Navy, she was the first Navy cruiser named after a Massachusetts city or town to visit the Commonwealth since the surrender of Japan. Some 18,000 people lined up in Boston to board the ship and see the turret of the “six twins” that fired the last shot of the war. (The gun and mount are now on view at the Naval Museum in Washington, DC) Visitors also saw a bronze replica of the famous Concord Minuteman statue, a memento of the first “shot heard round the world” by the Revolutionary War and the “mascot” of the ship.

Tea Concord received a Battle Star for his service in the Kuril Islands Operation. After visiting Boston, she returned to her home port of Philadelphia, where she was decommissioned on December 12, 1945 and sold on January 21, 1947.

Pursuing her occupation duty, the USS Bears she sailed for Hakodate, Hokkaido, to Yokosuka in Tokyo Bay, and then returned to the United States via the destroyer base in Hawaii to San Diego, California. From there, the Bears it passed through the Panama Canal and arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, on December 23, 1945. It had participated in eight maritime attacks without casualties. Tea Bears she was recommissioned in 1951, decommissioned in 1963, and eventually sold for scrap.

After a 30-day leave of absence, which allowed him to return home to Salem for Christmas 1945, Thaddeus Buczko (now 89 years old) was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS. Halfway until he retired from active duty.

He then received a BA from Norwich University (Hons) and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the US Army. While studying law at Boston University, in June 1949, the US Army. commissioned Buczko to serve as a reserve officer in the 304th Armored Cavalry Regiment. He was called to active duty in 1952 during the Korean War, where he served as a Unit Tank Commander with the 3rd Armored Division and as a Deputy Staff Judge for the Division. After the war, Buczko served in the Civil Affairs (military government) units. He commanded the 357th Civil Affairs Area B headquarters. He also served as the Chief of Staff of the 94th Army Reserve Command, which was comprised of more than 12,000 reservist citizen-soldiers in more than 100 reserve units. in New England. In 1979, Buczko retired with the rank of Colonel after 30 years of Army service. For his service, he received the Legion of Merit medal.

Thaddeus Buczko has served as a Salem City Councilman, Massachusetts State Representative, Salem Postmaster (appointed by President John F. Kennedy), Massachusetts State Auditor, and first judge of the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court. essex county. He is credited with bringing Pope John Paul II to Boston in 1979. He continues to reside in Salem.

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