COLUMBUS, Ohio — On September 2, 1945, the Japanese officially surrendered while signing the Instrument of Surrender on the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
Ceremonies across the country commemorated the end of World War II while honoring the American heroes who served.
Robert Wheeler, Jr. remembers it like it was yesterday.
“I can’t imagine that I was standing on the USS Missouri with the peace treaty where the Japanese gave up,” he said to 10TV’s Angela An during a recent interview.
Wheeler, who grew up in Cincinnati but now lives in Columbus, wasn’t just standing on the deck of the Missouri. He was playing his clarinet.
“I was told by the E.O. on our ship that I had to take four men and go to the Missouri for the peace treaty,” Wheeler said. But he told his commanding officer he didn’t want to go after serving in the Pacific for a year and a half.
“He said, ‘no.. you have to go, that's an order’,” Wheeler said as he recalled that moment in time when he was only a 25-year-old sailor.
“I was right over by the gangplank where they all came aboard,” he recalls. “I could have taken my clarinet and poked them as they came aboard,” he chuckled.
“It was that close,” Wheeler added.
Today, Wheeler is thankful he had the chance to witness such a historic moment. And he cherishes being part of America’s greatest generation.
Wheeler hopes the sacrifices of World War II aren't lost on the generations of now.
“I think we all should be unselfish and we should love one another and don't hate anybody,” he said while offering his 100 years of wisdom.
“Try to love one another and think nothing but the best of them and hope internationally we can come together in a big potpourri of love.”