Stephen harding targets an american soldier and the final flight through japan in the book last to die. Publishers weekly calls the book a meticulously researched tale. While harding expresses a commitment as a journalist and historian to remaining objective and not emotionally attached to the individual stories to be told, he admits to his personal connection with tony from his service in the vietnam war to his detailed journalism of American Military affairs, harding is very well suited to share tonys legacy of patriotism. Stephen harding is the author of eight previous books including the New York Times bestseller the last battle, he is a longtime journalist, for nearly two decades, he was on the staff of u. S. Soldiers, the initial newspaper of the u. S. Army. Currently, he is the editor this chief of military history magazine. His contributions on defense topics in aviation, military and maritime history, have appeared in the San Francisco chronicle, air and space smithsonian, world war ii, defense weekly and air enthusiasts. He currently lives in northern virginia. And without further ado, stephen harding. [applause] well, that was impressive. Thanks very much. I want to thank davis for that nice introduction and, of course, for them having me here tonight. I dont know how much you know about the story that makes up last to die. I want to give you a brief overview of that, and then ill tell you a few things about how i brought the story together. In a nutshell, this book is the story of the last american killed in combat in world war ii. His name was tony marscheone, and he was about a week past his 20th birthday. He was an obscure american bomber called a b32 dominator that was flying over tokyo just over 70 years ago when the aircraft was attacked by japanese fighters, and tony died, and two other people on the plane were seriously wounded. Tonys death was a tragedy, obviously, for his family and for the country as a whole, but it would have been little more than a footnote to history except for the fact that his death could very well have brought about the prolonging of world war ii, a war that most people assumed was already over. A little background. I first heard tonys story about 30 years ago. I was working in san diego, as a matter of fact, and i cowrote a book on this obscure airplane that i mentioned earlier, the b32 dominator. The b32 was built about the same time as the b29 super fortress. The difference was there were several thousand b29s built, and there were only ever 118 dominators. While the b4632 was actually quite a good airplane when it worked, it often did not work. It had issues such as engine fires, landing gear that wouldnt come down or go up when it was supposed to. But when it worked, it was certainly comparable to the b29. Only a handful of b32s ever made it to the pacific and literally this the last weeks of world war ii. So when i was writing the book, i heard this story about this young guy from pennsylvania who was unfortunate enough to be the last guy killed in world war ii. And i thought, thats a great story. I really want to tell it. So, of course, i waited 30 years to do that because life gets in the way. You have families. I did a lot of reporting from various parts of the world, and finally a couple of years ago i thought this is the time to tell it, because we were coming up on the anniversary of the end of the war. And most americans, i think, have a slightly incorrect view of how world war ii in the pacific ended. If i asked most of you when you thought vj day was if you understand what it means, victory over japan, you would probably say august 18th of whatever year were in, but thats not entirely accurate. World war ii ended on september 2, 1945, when the surrender documents were signed by the japanese aboard the uss missouri in tokyo bay, the battleship. August 18th comes up in most peoples minds or august 15th in a lot of peoples minds because those two dates are significant, and they are dealt with in the book. If youll remember on august 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on hiroshima. Three days later, august 9th, on nagasaki. You would think that watching two of the major cities in japan disappear beneath roiling mushroom clouds would have prompted the japanese to have ended the war at that time. It didnt. There was a Strong Movement within the Senior Leadership of the Japanese Military and government to continue the war not because the japanese thought they could actually win, because they thought if they inflicted enough casualties on the allied forces, they could win a negotiated settlement. Because if you remember, at the potts dam conference the allies had declared the goal was Unconditional Surrender of japan, no conditions at all. So these sort of japanese diehards figured that if they caused enough trouble for the allied forces, we would negotiate. Hirohito, on the other hand, saw it somewhat differently. He had seen several hundred thousand of his people vaporized, not to mention the fire bomb raids that wed been conducting for months before that. He, like most knowledgeable japanese, assumed that a Ground Invasion of japan was in the planning stages, and it was. It was called operation downfall. It had two parts. One would have started in late 1945, and the second part in early 1946. It would have been the largest amphibious invasion in history, and it would have been even had it been successful, disastrous for the attacking allies and for the defending japanese. The casualty estimates among the allied invasion troops and these were americans, australians, brits were in the hundreds of thousands. And in terms of the japanese casualty rate, it could have been in the millions because of the resistance that would have been offered. So here here toe here here toe decided he was going to go against tradition which the japanese militarists in the 1930s had sort of manipulated to become a political concept rather than a cultural concept. As they interpreted it, it was surrender was always shameful, Never Acceptable and that japan would have to fight on until victory. Hirohito surprised many of his advisers by agreeing to the terms of the pottsdam declaration. On august 14th he recorded an audio message that was to be broadcast the following day to the japanese people in which he announced his intention to surrender. That recording and the knowledge within the diehard militarist sections of the government and the military triggered a palace coup on august 15th. It was ultimately unsuccessful, but for some number of hours the imperial palace are complex in tokyo was in play. There wereroops, people were dying, a very senior general was shot and then decapitated becae he failed to go along with the coup plotters. Ultimately, the japanese announced to the allies their acceptance of the pottsdam declaration for surrender. Although in his radio broadcast, hirohito never actually said the word surrender. He said things like we have to endure the unendurable, we have to accept the unacceptable, but we never said were going to surrender. Two military organizations now come into play. There were two Imperial Japanese navy fighter squadrons. One of them was the 30 2nd Fire Squadron outside tokyo, and the other one was called [inaudible] south of tokyo and actually based at a place called pal ma. These two groups of aviators for very Different Reasons decided not to go along with the emperors order to lay down their arms and accept the ceasefire and prepare for surrender. The people at the 302nd were driven by their commander who was just a diehard traditiondriven militarist. He was also undergoing a relapse of malaria, so he wasnt thinking very clearly. But he infused his men with the concept that we cannot surrender, well shame our country, well shame our emperor. So his core group of Fighter Pilots who included some of the best surviving Fighter Pilots japan had and they had some of the few surviving excellent fighter planes japan had decided that they would not go along with the surrender, and they would attack any allied aircraft that showed up over japan. Down the road the mood was somewhat different. There were Fighter Pilots there, people who were some of the best known japanese pilots of world war ii. They decided that they would resist for a different reason. They saw it as a question of national sovereignty. Japan had not surrendered yet. No surrender had been signed. So they saw it as a question of defending the sovereign air space until the country surrendered. So they also decided that they would attack any allied aircraft that looked to be hostile. An important thing to remember here is that in both of the atomic bombings at that point in japan, theyd been conducted by two aircraft, both of them b29s on each occasion. To the japanese, a b29 and a b32 were identical; fourengine bombers, big, tall tail. So on august 16th general doug las Douglas Macarthur who ultimately would become Supreme Commander of allied powers in occupied japan, wanted to test the fidelity of the japanese to see if they really were the going to follow through on their agreement to surrender. So on august 16th he sent four b32s and some other aircraft over different parts of the canto plain which is the area around metropolitan tokyo to photograph airfields. As part of the ceasefire, Fighter Aircraft were supposed to have their propellers removed so they couldnt fly. He wanted to see if that was actually happening. On all 16th, nothing happened. The four crews pleasier yourly leisurely flew over tokyo and flew back to okinawa. On august 17th he decided to dispatch another four for a very specific set of missions. To send people back into harms way to find out what would happen. And really it is that simple. August 18, 1945, 4 b32 dominars took off from an ill see. They headed off towards japan about two hours into the flight they had mechanical difficulties. At that point the other two aircraft continued to fly towards japan which in retrospect may not be in like the wisest decision. When they arrived over tokyo they were taken under antiaircraft fire in intent we attacked by japanese fighter planes. At this point, things went from bad to worse especially for tony marchion. When he enlisted in the Army Air Force in november 1943, his intent was to be a pilot. Like many of us that didnt work out, so he was trained as an aerial gun and. His crew were supposed to go to italy to bomb the germans but at the last mamma and your crew was converted from a bombardment unit to an aerial reconnaissance unit. They were flying to be 24 liberator and a switch to the reconnaissance version called at seven. They get to open now appear first onto went to the philippines. By the time they got to open our there are few aircraft anywhere except over japan. They need had fallen off significantly. Tony and his fellow gunners were sort of dried prune into being photographers assistance. They would have complex aerial cameras being used. On august 15th, actually the 14th, tony volunteered for any reconnaissance flight over tokyo. Worst decision he ever made. After the european theater harsanyi went home depended on the number of points you had. You got more points for flying over hostile territory, which should pay a so was, but everybody thought the world would end it on august 15th the emperors acceptance of the surrender conditions made it look like the war was going to be over. Tony who wanted to get home volunteered for what he thought would be a fairly long and involved mission that didnt turn out to be the way it was. When the b32s came back in the first contested rate i could imagine he was regretting the choice he made. At that point it was a done deal. August 18th when they took off , tony was working as an assistant to an aerial photographer named joe locker right for massachusetts and joe had been a photographer in civilian life. Tony was interested in cameras. They were together a couple times. There was another man because they were not in the same unit that operated b32. They were thrown by the bombardment squad. Tony had never seen it be 32 until the first day he got on one. He was amazed at the size of it. It was like to be 24 product of a consolidated aircraft company. There were similarities but it was gigantic. It was a really large airplane. So he and joe locke right got on the airplane, was eight hours to tokyo and of course the attack cap rear tire and if they discovered that the camera did not work. They couldnt be it and the nature he the way the camera wouldnt work. They were kind of find back over tokyo when they were attacked. Joe locke right had been crosstrained so he and tony decided they couldnt take pictures. They would help spot incoming fighters. They were standing on opposite sides of the airplane and a fighter came in, fired a burst of machine gun rounds that hit joe locke right in the legs, both legs. Seminary polis. Tony immediately went to evade and lifted him up and put them on a foldout settee built into the lodge and the eminem first aid on a 20millimeter cannon round came through the airplane and hit him square in the chest, not to model across the airplane in a let out in a few minutes despite the help he was getting from other people on the crew. His death again was a tragedy that the radio message that were not for the airplane makes up a large part of what i deal with in the book because the message was flushed immediately two headquarters in manila and not was really high to make a decision. The day before they been attacked but no injuries. Today there was a fatality and other injuries because several other crewmen were mildly injured. Macarthur at that point could literally have restarted against japan. The options open ranged everything from fairly lowlevel attacks by Navy Fighters on airfield to seeking authorization to drop the third atomic bomb. Mentioned earlier there was an invasion plan and depending on what services you read, have a third atomic bomb been necessary, it would necessary, they were not up and ready for some weeks or possibly months. What wouldve happened in the meantime, the japanese monster running. The United States and allies continuing against japan which wouldve resulted not only in the allied casualties a fairly significant japanese casualties. Macarthur said okay, the japanese are supposed to be sending a surrender delegation by air from japan with a stop in american occupied island called it a shame off okinawa. He said if those two airplanes specially marked white with green process, if they take off and we know at least the japanese government is serious. If they dont take off, whenever japanese has decided to continue for him that point wouldve decided without reservation from washington how far to go and resume in the campaign against japan and if the air campaign had gone on, ultimately so with the landed nation of japan. My father and my wife saw the river is scheduled to be in and i can honestly say im sorry it didnt happen. It wouldve changed my life considerably probably. Macarthur waited a minute, actually waited about 12 hours and the aircraft took off from japan and ultimately made their way to manila. The interesting part is 302nd aircrew pilot were still being renegade and they heard about the surrender flag ever going to attempt to shoot them down. Imagine what wouldve happened then. But to surrender planes carrying senior military commanders, diplomatic personnel, political personnel shut down by a naval air forces. It would then seem has a complete reputation of japans surrender agreement and began triggering all these angles. That is the crux of the story. A lot of the meat of the book is about the personalities of all. One of the people who plays a big role is a Japanese Naval captain. You might recognize the name because of the first wave of japanese attack on pearl harbor in december 1941. He originally was going to support the coup and realized to do so would be to invalidate anything he believed as a naval officer and so he decided not to any help defuse the situation. There are people like one of the highest in world war ii of course after his death is now known as emperor show off. Two other people briefly i was fortunate enough to meet. Tony marchione was the oldest of three children to an italian immigrant family. He had two younger sisters. To reset and geraldine and two years ago my wife and i went to pottstown mfm and spent a wonderful incredibly emotional day with them. Tonys death to them happened yesterday and they were very sharing and they talked about it and give me letters and photographs, but it was painful to do that. Part of the reason was because everybody else in america the japanese were going to surrender and days later comes the announcement their brother had been killed in combat. Sheesh it completely devastated tonys parents as you can imagine and then sort of the final pain he was initially entered in okinawa in individual graves and his remains were not repatriated until 1949 and they conducted a full military funeral preceded by a catholic funeral mass. In pottstown which was still there. It is a tremendously moving thing to talk to his sisters about those events. Its being able to find people like that make these are the stories real. When you read military history you can get too wrapped up in maneuvers in commanders in great sweeping strategy when the reality is worse that individual people, millions of them but individuals. Being able to talk to terry and jerry about tony and really brought it home to me. I havent told you everything about the book sale have to read it. You dont have to read it, but i would negotiate if he did. I would be happy at this point to entertain questions if anybody has any. Yes. Having spent some time on guam in the philippines and the holdout japanese soldiers they are, did you choose to cut off the last american casualty at the time the nation of japans surrender or how did you pay a guy because he could things. The war i came to the conclusion when was the last combat in world war ii because he is so listed as such of the u. S. Army center for military has jury boris asif historian. Its one of those judgment calls. A lot of American Service personnel died Service Personnel by after the ceasefire went into effect. They died of wounds suffered previously, injuries. A lot of people died in. Tony was the last American Servicemember killed by direct enemy action maintain its comments back to the time it happened. In the philippines i think the last i came out in 1976 but the last People Killed in combat, told me and for Navy Aviators who were killed august 14th before they got the ceasefire order. Thats how the determination was made. Im a journalist of 50 years here in washington. Tremendously informed on wars and all of that, but where do you sort out two of my dearest friends are sister made and raised who went to jail for three years for getting into our armory in tennessee. I gave them the title and bishop of judiciary. Those are two of the most highly motivated people i know. Make and who to washington last week and was person at 83 years old to our socalled to our area in tennessee. Tom is the cofounder of the catholic pontiff for the here in the United States. When you hear about those people, how do you sort them out how do i support people into the concept of nuke leer war . [inaudible] again, any rational human being is against violence if at all possible. In terms of world war ii, in writing about which is something i did not know a whole lot about before writing the book. You find out the japanese and separated by ideology but after the dropping of the two atomic arms, the japanese leadership. The japanese didnt know how many atomic weapons we had an almost certainly had a third weapon being used, the candidate wouldve been on tokyo and if thered been a fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, what would modern japan be like now. So in that sense into certain degree is probably a good day he wouldve taken a while to prepare additional bombs. In that sense, the adult question about World War Ii History is also necessary to use Nuclear Weapons or was it not. I think you can try arguments on both sides. But again, had the japanese knob is sort of shoved rather brutally into thinking about surrender, the consequences could well have been worse in terms of casualties and so on. One quick story about the coming years ago i ran the museum on Treasure Island in San Francisco bay and we were offered a mockup of the little boy bomb to put on display and we thought about it long and hard because it wouldve been installed for free do i really want to put an atomic bomb on display at cisco in the late 1970s and i have to say i chickened out and said no because its not evocative message. And quite honestly the atomic bombs are part of the background story. You could write volumes about what mightve happened. A review but came across my desk at the magazine say in their atomic in the locker. I dont want to consider what wouldve happened or what the world would look like today if that happened. Im curious about your research as to understand the japanese perspective on this. Obviously you have more to tonys story, but how did you get into the mind. Its very difficult. Probably not the japanese destroyed a lot of records after the announcement of surrender and a lot of them were official records. Japanese pilots involved were essentially told to go home and hide in the destroyed their personal military records and the allied amin of japan had destroyed a lot of records as well. The short answer is a lot of scholarship in japan over the last 10 years make emus of allied records. A thing called the Strategic Bombing which gave a list of the targets we hit in japan in the greater japanese occupied area. So theres a lot of that available in the basis for what the japanese are writing about is in english because it the American Allied literary mobilizations. The other secret is to hire a good japanese translator. Like any modern journalist i went to google looking for japanese translators and i found a very nice gentleman is absolutely a mod to her by complete coincidence lives in the town of california where i was born and raised. Hes totally bilingual, born in the United States, growth in japan and when i first contacted him, just by sheer coincidence about to do research on completely different topics. I am a very good researcher and military records because i have been doing it for years. Japanese records, not so much. Having been able to do it and of course we are fortunate to live right in the National Archives and the other places come in the air force History Center in alabama, consolidated our crafts in the air and space museum. Its all about trying to mke the most logical conclusions based on that fact. Theres afraid some of you might be familiar with called research rapture. He did so in a finding about you have to force yourself to stop researching and start rating. The book i have coming out next summer was a real problem because it was a fascinating story. As are many other books. You have to be in love with whatever youre going to write about or at least fascinated by it because it takes a lot of hours of research and i havent yet figured out how to write with a partner. Im sure theres people who do that. I cant. Its something id do myself with my wifes support. Without her support this should not be happening. Anything else . Great. Okay,