War in the Pacific and the Final Surrender

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Unlike the European theater, with its measured offensives marked by patience and planning, America's war in the Pacific was defensive from the outset. Beginning with the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan overran the region at will, and it would be months before the Allies had a decisive victory in the Pacific. That would come with the Battle of the Coral Sea off New Guinea in May, 1942. A month later, the momentum forever shifted at Midway, and in the months and years that followed, the war in the Pacific became a slow and costly crawl toward Tokyo, with radio reporting each step. From amphibious landings to devastating bombing raids, news reports took listeners to jungles and beaches, islands and flagships, as grueling setbacks and exhilarating victories were experienced firsthand.

The five radio broadcasts presented here come from original studio transcription disc recordings in the Arthur B. Church - KMBC Radio Collection and the J. David Goldin Collection in the Marr Sound Archives.

Broadcast #1
Even as Pearl Harbor smoldered, America seemed more concerned with freeing Europe from Hitler's grasp than with liberating the Pacific. While Japan's sneak attack nearly destroyed the U.S. fleet, Germany had yet to fire a shot at America (aside from shipping losses in hostile waters). Nevertheless, in his December 14, 1941 broadcast, one week to the day after Pearl Harbor, commentator H.V. Kaltenborn stresses the importance of fighting the Nazis, while we can "take care of Japan almost at our leisure." Though this forecast turned out to be terribly inaccurate, Kaltenborn's other prediction, that airpower would win the war, was prophetic.

Broadcast #2
In the dark early days of the war, putting a positive spin on otherwise dismal news demanded real creativity on the part of broadcasters. The voluble delivery of Walter Winchell was well suited to these descriptive acrobatics, as evidenced by this report from May 17, 1942. In presenting Allied setbacks in the Pacific, Winchell optimistically conjures references to Doolittle's raid on Tokyo, the stand at the Alamo, and barefoot troops at Valley Forge.

Broadcast #3
By 1944, with Allied victories mounting against Japan, news from the Pacific was more encouraging. With the D-Day invasion just five days earlier, a rising tide of optimism is reflected in this Columbia report from June 11, 1944, in which events from the Pacific are more heartening, and outcomes are communicated in a "box score" of wins and losses.

Broadcast #4
One of the war's darkest moments came on February 22, 1942, when, with the Japanese inching closer, President Roosevelt ordered General Douglas MacArthur to flee his headquarters in the Philippines. MacArthur, who had developed a deep love for the country and its people during three tours of duty in the islands, knew that the thousands of American and Philippine comrades left behind faced certain defeat, and he was torn between obeying his Commander-In-Chief and fighting alongside his adopted countrymen. Nearly a month and more than 2,500 miles later, MacArthur had established a new headquarters in Australia. Now commanding the entire Allied forces in the South Pacific, MacArthur patiently planned his return. Finally, more than two years later, MacArthur did return, and radio brought some of the best news out of the Pacific to home front listeners. MacArthur's invasion of the Philippines was announced in this communiqué from Admiral Nimitz, broadcast from Pacific Fleet headquarters in Pearl Harbor on October 24, 1944.

Broadcast #5
Following days of uneasy waiting, weeks of speculation, months of hope, and years of dread, American listeners finally heard the words they had been waiting for since radio reports first foreshadowed the coming of war a decade earlier. On August 14, 1945, Columbia's Bill Henry began his newscast with this statement: "The Second World War is over." Although the official surrender documents would not be signed for another 19 days (and even though some municipalities had signed "official" V-J Day proclamations days earlier), Japan's announced acceptance of unconditional surrender was official enough for American listeners, and the next day, August 15, saw spontaneous celebrations from coast to coast. However, even though this newscast marked the celebratory end of a long, arduous journey, it is tempered by one final, bitter report. Henry closes the broadcast with news of the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis (which he inadvertently calls the "Annapolis"), flagship of the Pacific Fifth Fleet, which was torpedoed on July 30, 1945, just days before hostilities ended.

Text by Scott O'Kelley, Marr Sound Archives
Digital Audio by Scott Middleton, Marr Sound Archives

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