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ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
ISSUES & ANALYSIS
August 14, 2005
NEWSWATCH
Also in this section:
Editorials and Commentary
INSIDE: University City man’s dad helped break
the news to the world of Japan’s surrender in
WWII. Page B5.
Dad broke news of Japan’s surrender
University City man treasures father’s letter
detailing his worldwide scoop as an Armed
Forces Radio broadcaster on Guam.
By HARRY LEVINS
Post-Dispatch Senior Writer
An architect in University City has a family stake
in Sunday’s 60th anniversary of V-J Day, the day
Japan threw in the towel to end World War II.
In the home office of the architect, Peter Green,
sit six thick ring-bound notebooks- They’re filled
with the wartime letters of his father, Marine Pfc.
Benjamin Green.
And in a letter written from Guam on Aug. 14,
1945, the elder Green tells his family that he
scooped the world on getting out the big news of
Japan’s surrender.
Ben Green died in 1976 at age 68. In looking
back, his son said last week, “My father told lots
of stories from the war. But the stories he told
were the funny stories. The only way I found
about this story was by reading the letters.”
The letter about the surrender scoop is typed
entirely in upper-case letters, with lots of ellipses
Stead of periods. In those days, that was the
style for radio scripts — and the senior Green
was writing his letter from WXLI, the Armed
Forces Radio station on Guam.
As a civilian in Chicago, Green had produced
and directed radio dramas. As a Marine on
Guam, he was, in effect, the assistant manager
of the radio station.
And in mid-August 1945, everybody at the
station was on pins and needles. The United
States had dropped an atomic bomb on
Hiroshima on Aug. 6 and a second on Nagasaki
three days later. Now, the world was waiting for
Japan to call it quits.
On the afternoon of Aug. 14, Green dispatched
one of his reporters—an Army soldier known as
Kani Evans— to the nearby headquarters of
Adm. Chester Nimitz, the Navy’s commander-in-
chief Pacific, or CincPac.
In the letter home, Green wrote that Evans “had
just given me a story about a B-29 attack, and I
was preparing to put it on the air when the phone
rang again. It was Kani out of breath with the
Domei flash.”
Domei was the Japanese national news agency.
Its dispatches got careful scrutiny at CincPac
headquarters. The one that excited Evans was
apparently the dispatch quoted later in the Post-
Dispatch: “An imperial message accepting the
Potsdam proclamation will be forthcoming soon.”
At a meeting the previous month in Potsdam,
Germany, the leaders of the United States,
Britain and the Soviet Union had called on the
Japanese to surrender or face ruin.
In Guam, Green instantly grasped the import of
the Domei dispatch. His letter continues:
“We slapped it on the air and then at 4 p.m., two
minutes later, took short wave from San
Francisco pointing out to our listeners that San
Francisco didn’t have the story they had just
heard over WXLI.”
The younger Green explained that the “short
wave from San Francisco” referred to a
short¬wave radio network that linked Armed
Forces Radio outlets. He was uncertain about
the reference to “our listeners.”
But he’s positive that his father was the first
journalist anywhere to get out the word that
Japan was giving up. Sixty years ago, his father
felt the same way.
In the letter, he says the Associated Press did,
too:
“AP credited the Guam radio with making a flash
announcement here, which you may have read
or heard repeated in the States. That was us!”
The younger Green has finished a book built
around his father’s letters. It’s titled “Dad’s War
with the United States Marines,” and it will be
published later this month by the Seaboard
Press as a 282-page, $19.95 paperback.
The title salutes Ben Green’s record as a Sgt.
Bilko of his times — a quick-thinking, fast-talking
wheeler-dealer. In fact, on Guam, he talked
himself out of an infantry security unit and into
the cushier job at the radio station.
In the book, Peter Green says that several
hours passed be¬tween his father’s flash and
the word that older Americans still recall —CBS
reporter Webley Edwards’ broadcast from
CincPac headquarters.
At 6 p.m. on Aug. 14, President Harry S Truman
made a terse announcement that Japan was
quitting. But somehow, word of the surrender —
or least rumors to that effect — got to St. Louis
in the early hours of Aug. 14.
That evening, the Post-Dispatch put out an extra
edition. The extra reported that on Hill, the old
Ruggieri’s Restaurant had closed as usual at I
am. Tuesday —and had re-opened later, when
word came in. The story says, “Early celebrators
were served with drinks on the house.”
As the day wore on, spirits rose higher and
higher. The Post-Dispatch pinpointed Olive
Street between Eighth and Ninth streets as “the
center of downtown merrymaking.” A photo from
that block shows a snowstorm of paper falling
from office windows.
But on Guam, Ben Green was too tuckered to
party. After all, he was 37—no youngster. And he’
d been keyed up for days, waiting for news of the
surrender.
“I’m dead tired,” he writes in the letter, “even
though I managed seven hours’ sleep last night. I
need 24.”
The letter was written around midnight and
addressed to his wife as she visited relatives in
Massachusetts. As it winds to an end, Green
writes:
“I’ve been to CincPac forty times today and now I
give up. I can’t keep my eyes open?’
He tells his wife — Alice Herlihy Green, a
Chicagoan who died in 1982—“I love you. The
war’s over. You’re an angel. And there won’t be
any more worry for you. Soon, I’ll be home to do
it all. But there won’t be any worry, so we’ll just
laugh and play like other kids. You’re a doll.
“Ben.”
Information on Green’s book is available on the
Web site at www.dadswar net.
“AP credited the Guam radio with making a
flash announcement here, which you may
have read or heard repeated in the States.
That was us!"
ISSUES & ANALYSIS
August 14, 2005
NEWSWATCH
Also in this section:
Editorials and Commentary
INSIDE: University City man’s dad helped break
the news to the world of Japan’s surrender in
WWII. Page B5.
Dad broke news of Japan’s surrender
University City man treasures father’s letter
detailing his worldwide scoop as an Armed
Forces Radio broadcaster on Guam.
By HARRY LEVINS
Post-Dispatch Senior Writer
An architect in University City has a family stake
in Sunday’s 60th anniversary of V-J Day, the day
Japan threw in the towel to end World War II.
In the home office of the architect, Peter Green,
sit six thick ring-bound notebooks- They’re filled
with the wartime letters of his father, Marine Pfc.
Benjamin Green.
And in a letter written from Guam on Aug. 14,
1945, the elder Green tells his family that he
scooped the world on getting out the big news of
Japan’s surrender.
Ben Green died in 1976 at age 68. In looking
back, his son said last week, “My father told lots
of stories from the war. But the stories he told
were the funny stories. The only way I found
about this story was by reading the letters.”
The letter about the surrender scoop is typed
entirely in upper-case letters, with lots of ellipses
Stead of periods. In those days, that was the
style for radio scripts — and the senior Green
was writing his letter from WXLI, the Armed
Forces Radio station on Guam.
As a civilian in Chicago, Green had produced
and directed radio dramas. As a Marine on
Guam, he was, in effect, the assistant manager
of the radio station.
And in mid-August 1945, everybody at the
station was on pins and needles. The United
States had dropped an atomic bomb on
Hiroshima on Aug. 6 and a second on Nagasaki
three days later. Now, the world was waiting for
Japan to call it quits.
On the afternoon of Aug. 14, Green dispatched
one of his reporters—an Army soldier known as
Kani Evans— to the nearby headquarters of
Adm. Chester Nimitz, the Navy’s commander-in-
chief Pacific, or CincPac.
In the letter home, Green wrote that Evans “had
just given me a story about a B-29 attack, and I
was preparing to put it on the air when the phone
rang again. It was Kani out of breath with the
Domei flash.”
Domei was the Japanese national news agency.
Its dispatches got careful scrutiny at CincPac
headquarters. The one that excited Evans was
apparently the dispatch quoted later in the Post-
Dispatch: “An imperial message accepting the
Potsdam proclamation will be forthcoming soon.”
At a meeting the previous month in Potsdam,
Germany, the leaders of the United States,
Britain and the Soviet Union had called on the
Japanese to surrender or face ruin.
In Guam, Green instantly grasped the import of
the Domei dispatch. His letter continues:
“We slapped it on the air and then at 4 p.m., two
minutes later, took short wave from San
Francisco pointing out to our listeners that San
Francisco didn’t have the story they had just
heard over WXLI.”
The younger Green explained that the “short
wave from San Francisco” referred to a
short¬wave radio network that linked Armed
Forces Radio outlets. He was uncertain about
the reference to “our listeners.”
But he’s positive that his father was the first
journalist anywhere to get out the word that
Japan was giving up. Sixty years ago, his father
felt the same way.
In the letter, he says the Associated Press did,
too:
“AP credited the Guam radio with making a flash
announcement here, which you may have read
or heard repeated in the States. That was us!”
The younger Green has finished a book built
around his father’s letters. It’s titled “Dad’s War
with the United States Marines,” and it will be
published later this month by the Seaboard
Press as a 282-page, $19.95 paperback.
The title salutes Ben Green’s record as a Sgt.
Bilko of his times — a quick-thinking, fast-talking
wheeler-dealer. In fact, on Guam, he talked
himself out of an infantry security unit and into
the cushier job at the radio station.
In the book, Peter Green says that several
hours passed be¬tween his father’s flash and
the word that older Americans still recall —CBS
reporter Webley Edwards’ broadcast from
CincPac headquarters.
At 6 p.m. on Aug. 14, President Harry S Truman
made a terse announcement that Japan was
quitting. But somehow, word of the surrender —
or least rumors to that effect — got to St. Louis
in the early hours of Aug. 14.
That evening, the Post-Dispatch put out an extra
edition. The extra reported that on Hill, the old
Ruggieri’s Restaurant had closed as usual at I
am. Tuesday —and had re-opened later, when
word came in. The story says, “Early celebrators
were served with drinks on the house.”
As the day wore on, spirits rose higher and
higher. The Post-Dispatch pinpointed Olive
Street between Eighth and Ninth streets as “the
center of downtown merrymaking.” A photo from
that block shows a snowstorm of paper falling
from office windows.
But on Guam, Ben Green was too tuckered to
party. After all, he was 37—no youngster. And he’
d been keyed up for days, waiting for news of the
surrender.
“I’m dead tired,” he writes in the letter, “even
though I managed seven hours’ sleep last night. I
need 24.”
The letter was written around midnight and
addressed to his wife as she visited relatives in
Massachusetts. As it winds to an end, Green
writes:
“I’ve been to CincPac forty times today and now I
give up. I can’t keep my eyes open?’
He tells his wife — Alice Herlihy Green, a
Chicagoan who died in 1982—“I love you. The
war’s over. You’re an angel. And there won’t be
any more worry for you. Soon, I’ll be home to do
it all. But there won’t be any worry, so we’ll just
laugh and play like other kids. You’re a doll.
“Ben.”
Information on Green’s book is available on the
Web site at www.dadswar net.
“AP credited the Guam radio with making a
flash announcement here, which you may
have read or heard repeated in the States.
That was us!"
What they're saying about Dad's War with the United
States Marines:
This sounds wonderful. I congratulate you for persevering and
bringing this to a book form that can be shared and enjoyed.
--Peter Parsons, Author of Secret War in the Pacific, a video
documentary on the campaign of his father, Chick Parsons,
and the Special Mission Submariners of World War II and all
the men and women of the Philippine Resistance Movement
(at www.chickparsons.com).
Congratulations, Peter! On having a great dad and having a
new career as a writer.
--Catherine Rankovic, Washington University Adjunct
Professor, Essayist and Poet, Author of Fierce Consent and
Other Poems, Wingspan Press, 2005.
Stunningly awesome, Peter. I am so pleased you got this
advance press. Harry Levins is a fine journalist and historian,
not a man who takes up trifling subjects. He has paid you a
huge honor and I am happy for my friend.
--Nancy Hobson, Writer, St. Louis
What a MARVELOUS history, and what an amazing father
you had! To somehow find a way to manage service to his
country while having the challenge of a family at home...how
wonderful! Good luck on the book - I will make sure to pass
the word. --Lisa Sass
We can hardly wait to read your book. It sounds absolutely
fascinating. --Chuck & Fran Childress
Peter, I'm looking forward to reading the entire book....
Congratulations!
--C. Kevin Williams,Col USA (Ret.) Former Commander and
District Engineer, St. Louis District U. S. Army Corps of
Engineers.
Good luck with your book ! I find it so very interesting. Best
wishes, Paddy Twomey. --Patrick Twomey, Cork, Ireland
This looks like a really interesting book -- your dad sure was
a special person. You write so well, Pete! I know a lot of hard
work went into this. I definitely want to buy a copy of the book
when it is published. --Kathy Houpt
Peter, Wish we had been able to spend more time at the
baseball game. You're a wonderful storyteller!
--Leslie Kaufman
Return here for more news and reviews of Dad's War with
the United States Marines.
States Marines:
This sounds wonderful. I congratulate you for persevering and
bringing this to a book form that can be shared and enjoyed.
--Peter Parsons, Author of Secret War in the Pacific, a video
documentary on the campaign of his father, Chick Parsons,
and the Special Mission Submariners of World War II and all
the men and women of the Philippine Resistance Movement
(at www.chickparsons.com).
Congratulations, Peter! On having a great dad and having a
new career as a writer.
--Catherine Rankovic, Washington University Adjunct
Professor, Essayist and Poet, Author of Fierce Consent and
Other Poems, Wingspan Press, 2005.
Stunningly awesome, Peter. I am so pleased you got this
advance press. Harry Levins is a fine journalist and historian,
not a man who takes up trifling subjects. He has paid you a
huge honor and I am happy for my friend.
--Nancy Hobson, Writer, St. Louis
What a MARVELOUS history, and what an amazing father
you had! To somehow find a way to manage service to his
country while having the challenge of a family at home...how
wonderful! Good luck on the book - I will make sure to pass
the word. --Lisa Sass
We can hardly wait to read your book. It sounds absolutely
fascinating. --Chuck & Fran Childress
Peter, I'm looking forward to reading the entire book....
Congratulations!
--C. Kevin Williams,Col USA (Ret.) Former Commander and
District Engineer, St. Louis District U. S. Army Corps of
Engineers.
Good luck with your book ! I find it so very interesting. Best
wishes, Paddy Twomey. --Patrick Twomey, Cork, Ireland
This looks like a really interesting book -- your dad sure was
a special person. You write so well, Pete! I know a lot of hard
work went into this. I definitely want to buy a copy of the book
when it is published. --Kathy Houpt
Peter, Wish we had been able to spend more time at the
baseball game. You're a wonderful storyteller!
--Leslie Kaufman
Return here for more news and reviews of Dad's War with
the United States Marines.
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