Japan Thought That Americans Would Show No Mercy. Then the Marines Handed Out Food.

On September 22, 1945, the 5th Marine Division came ashore at Sasebo, Japan, expecting a fight. Instead, General Ray Robinson found a city where almost the only people left in the streets were policemen. Out in the hills and behind the shutters, families who had spent years hearing that Americans were brutes were watching the harbor. For years, Japanese propaganda had called Americans and British kichiku Bei-Ei, "bestial Americans and British." Yet at Sasebo, Japanese pilots guided the transports in, the naval guards stood unarmed, and the admiral commanding the landing reported no incidents. In the weeks that followed, Marines handed out candy to children and food to hungry families, and one woman, Chieko Maeda, remembered a jeep that stopped near her hiding family and left cans of food on the road. Chapters 0:00 The City With No People 1:00 The Fear Before the Landing 2:44 The Surrender Before the Landing Day 4:39 Landing at Sasebo 6:28 It Broke Through Children 7:32 The Jeep on the Road 8:01 What the Records Say 9:07 The Photograph SOURCES Charles R. Smith, "Securing the Surrender: Marines in the Occupation of Japan," Marine Corps History Division (Marines in World War II Commemorative Series), Sasebo-Nagasaki Landings. General Schmidt's briefing, Colonel Wensinger's advance parties, the Japanese pilots, the 0859 landing on September 22, the unarmed naval guards, Sasebo's population and the June 1945 air raid, and the recollections of Generals Robinson and Stewart and Lieutenant Neville. Philip D. Eakins, "East Meets West – the Occupation of Sasebo," Sasebo Soundings, September 12, 1998 (reproduced on the USS Santa Fe history site). USS Shannon's arrival on September 14, Rear Admiral Ishii's delegation, the formal surrender aboard USS Santa Fe on September 21, Admiral Hill's report of about 10,000 troops ashore with no incidents, Francis Bitney's account, the sailors' food, and Chieko Maeda's recollection of the jeep. Stars and Stripes, "Retired sailor's visit to Sasebo a history lesson." Phil Eakins on the women and children who left Sasebo in summer 1945 because of rumors about the arriving American forces. Sasebo History, assorted data compiled from the Fifth Marine Division report "Occupation of Japan, 1945-09-22 to 1945-11-30." The conference aboard USS Mount McKinley, the Green Beach landing, the local newspapers' reaction to American troops, and the report that residents still feared their own government. Fifth Marine Division Association, "History of 5th Marine Division." The division's casualties on Iwo Jima and the flag raising on Mount Suribachi by the 28th Marines. The National WWII Museum, "US Marine standing in front of a group of Japanese school boys, Sasebo, 1945" (Marine Corps Photo 25-2). The caption and description of the photograph used at the end of the video. The Japan Times, "A Crash Course in Wartime Japanese Terminology for Foreign Demons." The meaning of kichiku and kichiku Bei-Ei. The Diplomat, "80 Years Later, Okinawa Remains Haunted by the Ghosts of War" (2025), and Wikipedia, "Rape during the occupation of Japan." Wartime propaganda about Americans and the context of fear after Okinawa. Sources & Archives U.S. National Archives Internet Archive Wikimedia Commons Periscope Film Archival Footage Archival footage: U.S. National Archives, Prelinger Archives, Ford Motor Company collection, Die Deutsche Wochenschau; some scenes use illustrative footage of the period not the people named. How This Episode Was Made Original research and script by WWII Desk. Archival film, photographs, documents and other historical material from the U.S. National Archives, Prelinger Archives and other collections are re-edited to match the narration and combined with our own maps, document reconstructions and graphics. Some scenes use illustrative footage of the period to represent locations, events, equipment and environments described in the narration and are not necessarily footage of the specific people named. Sources are listed above.