Veterans remember end of WWII on anniversary

BROKEN ARROW -- This week marks the 73rd anniversary of Japan surrendering during WWII. 

Frank Riesinger remembers the day vividly. 

"Someone came in our office and was next door to us in the Orpheum Building and said 'The Japs have just surrendered' and broke into our door," Riesinger said. 

He was in Downtown Tulsa and said when the official announcement came over the radio the city erupted. 

"The town was kind of expecting it, so ticker tape started dropping down from every window and every building in town," Riesinger said. "Horns started blowing. Cars started driving up and down Main and Boston and Fourth Street."

He was in Tulsa on furlough but had his vaccinations and was headed over to assist in the invasion of Japan that was planned for November. 

Broken Arrow hero, Oscar Nipps Jr., was already on a ship headed for Tokyo armored up and ready to be on the front lines of the Japan invasion. 

"Had we had to invade Japan there was statistics out that there would be 95-percent of the first wave annihilated and I would have been on that first wave," Nipps said. 

He did not get the news about the peace treaty until Sept. 2. The ship he was on was anchored next to the USS Missouri where the surrender ceremony was held. 

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