The end of the war in the Pacific

For those of you that have read previous posts in this blog, you know that I have been posting information from letters / documents that I have found in my father's memory box.  I was excited to find a letter from my father to my mother dated August 10th, 1945. My father was drafted in January of 1944 at the age of 31.  He had two children, one aged 3 and the other 1 1/2.  I was born in 1947 after he returned.  

I have copied the letter, editing some parts out of it.





Page 1 on his letter:

Page 2 of his letter:

In this letter you see that they were closely monitoring the radio to get the war news.  They had heard that Russia had declared war on Japan and drove 14 miles across the border.  The second "death bomb" had been dropped.  Today we are so used to calling them "atomic bombs" that this wording seems odd.

Page 3 of his letter:

Here is where he hears the news on the radio and they get the news flash from Tokyo saying the they had accepted the unconditional surrender terms.  His ship was moored in Subic Bay in the Philippines and he describes the scene that he sees topside.  "Every ship in the bay was flashing search lights and shooting of flares of all colors. It was the most brilliant celebration that I have ever witnessed."

I have scoured the internet for any possible images of this celebration but have not found anything.  If anyone knows of any, please share them with me.