During the August of 1945, C.C. Beall (1892 – 1970), popular commercial illustrator of the Forties, was dispatched by Collier’s to illustrate the surrender of the Imperial Japanese Empire on the decks of the battleship Missouri – and to draw-up whatever else caught his fancy on mainland Japan. Much of his account concerns his search for food and suitable lodgings.
Beall’s impressions of the surrender proceedings:
“We can see the launch flying an American flag, and word goes around that this is the Japanese delegation. Soon we see the Japs climb aboard [the ship]. They are a group of poorly turned-out dignitaries. The leading dignitary has a coat that you might expect to see hanging outside a second-hand store…The cutaway of the Japanese Premiere is ‘cabdriver green’, a color little in demand. One top hat, I note, at one time must have had a corner resting against a radiator. It has taken on a bend which is definitely permanent but certainly not intentional. A man in a not-quite-white suit completes the the sorry spectacle. The Japs stand expressionless, looking straight ahead. Then comes MacArthur and Nimitz, the Star Spangled Banner, the speech, the signatures and General MacArthur’s dismissal.”
You can read the 2007 obituary of Charlie Tatsuda here…
