He was 40 feet from Gen. Douglas MacArthur and the end of WWII

X post in GD.


BRENDAN SULLIVAN / THE WORLD-HERALD
Bob McGranaghan, 89, was assigned 70 years ago to escort a Russian general to the signing ceremony that formally ended World War II. After the war, he married, and he and his wife raised 13 children. On the chair is a photo of himself in uniform at 20.


http://www.omaha.com/columnists/kelly/kelly-he-was-feet-from-gen-douglas-macarthur-and-the/article_e3228e18-55dd-5233-a025-b3f57e311adf.html


POSTED: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2015 12:30 AM | UPDATED: 9:10 AM, WED SEP 2, 2015.
By Michael Kelly / World-Herald columnist

Preparing to shoot pool at the Millard VFW, the old man could picture himself as a teenager on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, not far from Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

“I was as close to him as the front door over there,” said Bob McGranaghan, 89. “What’s that, 40 feet?”

On Sept. 2, 1945, he was a Navy enlistee on the destroyer USS Nicholas, assigned to escort a Soviet dignitary onto the battleship Missouri for the signing of documents that formally ended war in the Pacific theater, and with it, World War II.

The name of the Soviet general?

FULL story at link.