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Second World War: Tokyo Bay on V-J Day

By Capper's Staff
Published on November 29, 2012

Albert Dale Fecht fought in the second World War. This is one of the stories he told.

Albert was assigned to overseas
duty aboard the light cruiser Pasadena, which
prowled the Pacific Ocean for 10 consecutive
months. It steamed into Tokyo Bay on V-J Day, September 2, 1945. The Pasadena anchored beside the warship Missouri to witness the signing of the
surrender.

Every available topside area was
crowded with men in freshly laundered whites who were eager for this
long-awaited occasion. With a strange mixture of emotions, the men watched as
the small figures of the Japanese surrender emissaries climbed the gangway and
were piped aboard the Missouri
for formal ceremonies on this historic day.

The Pasadena
arrived back into the United
States January 19, 1946.

The Re d Cross had a message for Albert. It was: “Your father is ill,
come home immediately.” Albert boarded a train for Tribune, Kansas. Friends were
waiting for him. They found his father at a gas station, all bent over, and
very ill.

Albert put his father in a vehicle
and sped the 34 miles to the nearest hospital before going home.

His father’s appendix had burst in
three places; it had been that way for three days.

Albert was discharged from the Navy
in April 1946.

Submitted by Pauline Fecht

Syracuse, Kansas


Back in 1955 a call
went out from the editors of the then
Capper’s
Weekly
asking for readers to send
in articles on true pioneers. Hundreds of letters came pouring in from early
settlers and their children, many now in their 80s and 90s, and from
grandchildren of settlers, all with tales to tell. So many articles were
received that a decision was made to create a book, and in 1956, the first
My
Folks title – My Folks Came in a
Covered Wagon – hit the shelves. Nine
other books have since been published in the
My Folks series, all filled to the brim with true tales from Capper’s readers, and we are proud to
make those stories available to our growing online community.