Veterans Commemorate End of World War II

Remembering the Japanese Surrender

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As “Taps” plays on a lone bugle, on a somber morning in Superior, John Kanzer remembers his time serving in the US Navy.

“I’ve seen a lot of people get killed. No me. Why not me? I don’t know. But I had people around me,” Kanzler says, talking about her service in the Pacific Theater; it was naval combat against the Japanese forces in the early 1940s.

Kanzler doesn’t like to talk about the horrors of war.

Nonetheless, he remembers his service well, firing a 40mm anti-aircraft gun on board the USS Colorado.

On August 14, 1945, the Japanese announced they were surrendering, in effect ending the war in the Pacific.

“I didn’t serve during that period of time,” says Richard I. Bong American Legion Post #435 Commander Delbert Kangas. “But I knew veterans who did. My father was one who served during World War II. It’s important to remember the sacrifices they made, so we have the freedoms we have. We don’t want to be speaking Japanese, we don’t want to speak German. So here we are.”

Both the American and Canadian flags are raised at the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center to commemorate the anniversary of Japan’s announcement.

Japan officially surrendered on board the USS Missouri, on September 2 of that same year.

It was a time exactly 70 years ago that John Kanzler remembers very well.

“I was getting ready to go home,” Kanzler says, taking a moment to reflect. “It was a good feeling. We knew we weren’t going to get shot at anymore. Everything was all done.”

It was the end of a naval campaign that lasted the better part of four years.

And for Kanzler it was the end of the horrors of that war.