Texas Now Magazine April 2015 | Page 12

complex of the Japanese homeland from July 10 to Aug. 15, 1945. U.S. B29 bombers, based at the island of Tinian, dropped atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima (Aug. 6) and Nagasaki (Aug. 8) which, in the end, forced an end to the war. Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender of Japan to Allied forces with a live radio address to the citizens of Japan on Aug. 15, 1945. Even with the Emperor’s announcement of the Japanese surrender the Lexington continued to send out air patrols. She dropped much needed supplies to prisoner-of-war camps on the island of Honshu, and according to the crew publication The Lexington Baedeker, the Lady Lex made a “triumphant entrance into Tokyo Bay” on Sept. Six, 1945. There she remained supporting the occupation/reconstruction of Japan until December 1945 when she is ordered to return to the U.S. She acted as a ferry for returning troops (Operation Magic Carpet) and arrived at San Francisco Dec. 13, 1945. She finished postwar operations along the West Coast of Calif., before being decommissioned at Bremerton, Wash., April 23, 1947. 12 ✯ texas now & THE ARTS TAGE, EVENTS, HERI Get Your History On At TexasNOWmag.com