OTTAWA — The whole world held its breath when Pres. Harry Truman announced that the B-29 named Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima 65 years ago. After receiving hurried orders from Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, the Red Army violated its neutrality agreement with Japan and attacked Japanese-occupied Manchuria three days later. Later that day, another B-29 dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki.
Japanese Emperor Hirohito agreed to surrender. Sixty-five years ago Thursday, Japanese and allied leaders met on board the battleship Missouri to sign the surrender documents. But it wasn’t the only Japanese surrender. President Truman wanted to send a message to Stalin, whose Red Army was moving closer to Japan. So one week later and 500 miles away in a giant Japanese naval base on the large northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, a young American sailor watched that surrender. That sailor was Sam Stenzel of Ottawa. You’ll hear his on this this weekend’s edition of Community Perspective Sunday morning at 8:04.
Thursday, Sept. 2, 4 p.m.
