VERY RARE! 1945 WWII USS Iowa Japan Surrender Tokyo Bay Sailors Book
VERY RARE! 1945 WWII USS Iowa Japan Surrender Tokyo Bay Sailors Book
Comes with hand-signed C.O.A.
This incredibly scare and museum-grade WWII book was printed onboard the USS Iowa following the V-J Day surrender of the Japanese forces in Tokyo Bay directly alongside her sister ship the USS Missouri.
On 27 August, Iowa and her sister ship Missouri entered Sagami Bay to oversee the surrender of the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal. Two days later, she entered Tokyo Bay with the occupation forces. Here, a number of sailors from Missouri were temporarily stationed on Iowa for the duration of the surrender ceremony which took place aboard Missouri. After serving as Admiral Halsey's flagship for the surrender ceremony on 2 September, Iowa remained in the bay as part of the occupying force. As part of the ongoing Operation Magic Carpet, she received homeward bound GIs and liberated US prisoners of war before departing Tokyo Bay on 20 September, bound for the United States.
What makes this book incredibly rare and very scarce is not only was this book printed on board the USS Iowa as it made its way back shortly following the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay, but this book was only distributed to the USS Iowa crew and sailors (earning 9 battle stars for their service during WWII). Receiving this book would've been an extremely momentous and honorable occasion as it marked the end of World War II.
Only a select handful of these original books are known to exist.
This book still maintains its original very light cloth binding as well as incredibly preserved inner pages. This book is the complete set.
During World War II, the USS Iowa carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt across the Atlantic to Mers El Kébir, Algeria, en route to a conference of vital importance in 1943 in Tehran with Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom and Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union. When transferred to the Pacific Fleet in 1944, Iowa shelled beachheads at Kwajalein and Eniwetok in advance of Allied amphibious landings and screened aircraft carriers operating in the Marshall Islands. She also served as the Third Fleet flagship, flying Admiral William F. Halsey's flag at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay.