The Battle of South Sakhalin ended in a Red Army victory and also in an enduring territorial dispute between Russia and Japan.
Bảo Đại resigned as Emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty. His position in Vietnamese history is complicated, as he clearly lacked real authority.
.jpg)
OSS officer John Birch was killed in a scuffle with Chinese Communist troops. He had been a missionary in China immediately before the US entry into World War Two. When the war broke out, he joined the U.S. Army from China, seeking to become a chaplain, but instead being assigned as an intelligence officer.
Birch was a Protestant Fundamentalist, so much so that his beliefs had caused conflict when he was in university. Somewhat ironically, therefore, its notable that his funeral service in China, which was joint with two U.S. pilots who had been killed late in the war, was a Catholic one, presided over by Italian priests.
In the closing days of the war, Birch had written following on his post war aspirations:
I want some fields and hills, woodlands and streams I can call my own. I want to spend my strength in making fields green, and the cattle fat, so that I may give sustenance to my loved ones, and aid to those neighbours who suffer misfortune….
I want to live slowly, to relax with my family before a glowing fireplace, to welcome the visits of my neighbours, to worship God, to enjoy a book, to lie on a shaded grassy bank and watch the clouds sail across the blue.
I want to love a wife who prefers rural peace to urban excitement, one who would rather climb a hilltop to watch a sunset with me than to take a taxi to any Broadway play.
I want of government only protection against the violence and injustices of evil or selfish men.
I want to reach the sunset of life sound in body and mind, flanked by strong sons and grandsons, enjoying the friendship and respect of neighbours, surrounded by fertile lands and sleek cattle, and retaining my boyhood faith in Him who promised a life to come
Instead, his name would be appropriated by the extreme right wing John Birch Society, which was notorious in the 60s and 70s, but which still exists.
Adm. Willis Augustus "Ching" Lee Jr. of the U.S. Navy died of a heart attack as the great die off of World War Two senior officers commenced.
Lee had been an Olympian and was a champion marksman. He is the only individual to have won the US National High Power Rifle and Pistol championships in the same year. During the 1914 occupation of Vera Cruz he engaged in a sniper duel with three Mexican combatants and shot them all at long range.
Last edition:
