Aug. 30, 45: Discharged from the Hospital. Wrote to Judy, telling
her I would soon be coming home.
Sep. 2, 45: Sunday-V.J. Day. Big Chinese parades; many dragons occupying the streets; much noise, like the banging of pots and pans.
It was very difficult for our ambulances to get through the streets to the Kunming airport.
Sept. 3, 45: We boarded a big Douglas C-54. About 2100 in a rain storm, we took off into the Wild Black Yonder. When it would lightning, we could see mountains on every side, the Himalaya Range. We circled up and up, to get out of the cup.
Sept. 4, 45: The Philippines! Near daybreak we came down low so we could see the badly damaged barracks of Topside of Corregidor, and soon landed at Nichol's Field-near my Garden Court home of 1940-41. (Parangue).
We were driven to 29th Reple Depot (a tent city in Los Banos. There were letters from Judy, mother and sister Ruth, the first in many months-all thrilled that I was coming home. It was good to learn that things were normal back home.
Generals Liberated from Mukden.
While we were waiting transportation home, the generals were flown from Mukden to Yokohama, Japan-to be greeted by General MacArthur.
On September 2, 1945, on the deck of the U.S. Battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Generals Jonathan Wainwright and Sir Arthur Percival stood behind General MacArthur as he accepted the Surrender of the Japanese Empire. The following day, General Wainwright was flown to Baguio on Northern Luzon, to accept the surrender of the Philippines from Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita in the High Commissioner's Mansion at Camp John Hay, ending World War II.
Sept. 5, 45 - Wednesday: Many papers filled out. In the afternoon I was taken for a ride through Manila. Many of the buildings along Taft and Dewey Blvds. were in shambles. There were some two hundred damaged ships in the harbor, many assuming bizarre positions.