By Peter Finn

On May 14,1943, in the ice and dirt of the Pacific island of Attu, Sgt. Abelardo Montanez died charging a Japanese machine-gun position. He left behind a wife, Esperanza Hope Montanez, who was three months pregnant with their son, Alejandro.

Mother and son were among 5,000 veterans and family members who gathered at Fort Myer yesterday morning to commemorate the 50th anniversary of V-J Day, when Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu -- in black morning dress, top hat and cane -- and Gen. Yoshijiro Umezu signed the Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri.

It opened up wounds; I thought of him today," said Esperanza Montanez, who never remarried and lives in Fresno, Calif. "I think he must be smiling right now. He would be so proud seeing us together."

She was among eight witnesses, mostly veterans, who stood by the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery at 7:30 a.m. as Vice President Gore placed a wreath in memory of those who were killed in the Pacific. Later, on Summerall Field at Fort Myer, veterans and their families watched a full-honors military review.

"We spoke as one. We worked as one. We fought as one," Gore said in an address to the crowd at Fort Myer. "Let us honor America's heroes."

In ceremonies across the country yesterday, Americans paused to remember the end of World War II. The day also brought to an end this summer of remembering victory in Europe and the Pacific.

"This us is the last hurrah," Edmund Janiszewski, 73, of Clinton, said as he looked out onto Summerall Field, his Bronze Star and Purple Heart pinned to his suit. Janiszewski lost a leg while attacking an enemy position in Italy, and he attended yesterday's ceremonies in a wheelchair. "We should remember. People need to know that freedom is not free. We had to fight for it."

At the Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Avenue NW, an overflow crowd of several hundred heard Navy Chaplain Matthew Lee call on them to cherish "the courage, sacrifice and dedication of those who brought peace to the Pacific and to our shores."

The ceremony was led by retired Navy Capt. Gilven M. Slonim, who was present both at the bombing of Pearl Harbor and at the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri. An interpreter for the surrender, Slonim remembered how Gen. Douglas MacArthur haughtily beckoned to members of the emperor's delegation as they stepped forward to sign the documents.

"He let all the stops out as to who was in command," said Slonim, saying MacArthur summoned them "as if he were telling a youngster to eat his spinach."

When the surrender was complete and the delegation stepped down the gangway, Slonim recalled, aircraft from the U.S. fleet roared over the battleship in Tokyo Bay.

Taps was played as Slonim and retired Rear Adm. James C. Miller laid a wreath at the foot of the lone Sailor statue.

Impressive as all the military pomp was yesterday, the air also was sweet with a certain redemption.

Six years ago, Alejandro Montanez went to Attu to see where the father he never knew died. He met a Japanese man, Tomoyuki Ohmura, whose father also had died in combat on the island. The two exchanged addresses, and Ohmura's mother later wrote to Montanez's mother.

Gore read from the letter yesterday, as the Montanezes sat nearby:

"You have also experienced the bitterness of life," wrote Kikue Ohmura, who died of cancer two years ago, before the two widows could finalize a planned meeting. "I was 36 years old, and raising my five children was very hard. However, I am glad to tell you that I live a happy life now. I hope from the bottom of my heart that you live in good health and happiness."

Ohmura enclosed a Japanese pearl brooch, which Esperanza Montanez wore yesterday.

Sitting a few seats from the Montanezes as Gore quoted the letter was Yukio Kawamoto and his wife, Sayo. Kawamoto, of Springfield, was drafted in February 1942 and served in the Military Intelligence section of the 37th Infantry Division. Two months after he joined, his parents were sent to an internment camp in Utah.

"I was bitter during the war," said Kawamoto, speaking of his parents' incarceration. "But then the people in the 37th were very good to me, and I thought the American people are okay -- it's the government who made the mistake."

Sayo Kawamoto was in Japan during the war and survived the Tokyo firebombing.

I was the enemy before, but today we are together," she said. "It is an honor."

Staff writer Cindy Loose contributed to this report.

 

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Article in the Pacific Citizen, Nov 3-16, 1995	White House Letter and Invitation to V-J Day Ceremonies	Waiting for VP Gore, Wreath Laying Ceremonies, 50th Anniversary V-J Day (Yukio Kawamoto in LT Grey suit, extreme right)