12 - Military politics and civic responsibility 1945–81

Summary

On 16 August 1945 a parade was held on Morotai to celebrate the end of the war. Blamey made a short address, Berryman read the special order of the day, the ‘Last Post’ was sounded and a church parade was held. The staff at Adv LHQ then got on with their job of administering an overseas army of more than six divisions. The next major organisational task was to be the surrender ceremonies for the Japanese forces in the Australian areas. They were to be delayed, however, until after MacArthur held the official ceremony in Tokyo. After some negotiation Blamey was chosen as the official representative of Australia, and he was to take with him a delegation that would include one representative from each of the services. He chose Berryman to represent the Australian Army. It was a major honour, and his position as the army representative was recognition of the significant role Berryman had played in the defeat of the Japanese.

The official surrender ceremony was held on USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945. Berryman lined up among forty-nine other senior military officers on the open quarterdeck of Missouri. They came together in a ragged formation, in the words of one American officer, ‘milling about…as though they were at a junior prom’. In the front stood the senior delegates from each of the Allied powers, lined up from right to left in the order in which they would sign the document of surrender.