General Yamashita Surrender Ceremony
Howard Pyle's radio broadcast of the surrender ceremony at Baguio City,
Philippines on September 2, 1945. Known as the "Tiger of Malaya", Yamashita
surrendered in the presence of Generals Jonathan Wainwright and Arthur
Percival, who were previously imprisoned by the Japanese in Manchuria. Pyle
indicates he was the only news correspondent to cover both the overall
Japanese surrender on board the USS Missouri and Yamashita's surrender at
Baguio City.
Digitized from the original transcription disc in December 2015 with the
support of the Luhrs Family Endowment.
Side 1 Transcription
0:01:783 [Adams] We are now giving you a report from Baguio in Northern
Luzon. You’ll hear John Adams and Howard Pyle reporting the formal surrender
ceremonies of General Tomoyuki Yamashita, Commander of all remaining Japanese
Army units in the Philippines, and Vice Admiral Denchichi Okochi, Head of the
Japanese Naval delegation that came with Yamashita from his mountain hideout.
00:23.071 [Adams] The ceremony is being held here in the U.S. High
Commissioner’s summer residence, 5,000 feet up among the pine trees, in the
Philippines summer capitol. For the last half hour, witnesses and
participants to this historic surrender ceremony have been assembling here
and the room is already quite crowded. Since early morning, the signal corp
radio men and technicians have been setting up microphones and lines to cover
the ceremonies, which have been set up and coordinated by Colonel George H.
Bishop from the staff of Lieutenant General W. D. Styer, (unintelligible)
Westback, commanding general, who with his Deputy Commander, Major General
Edmond H. Leavey, will conduct on behalf of General Douglas McArthur, the
surrender ceremonies.
1:05.318 [Adams] General Yamashita and Vice Admiral Okochi have entered the
room with several members of their staff, interpreters and secretaries. The
rotund general seems little the worse for his trip. He seems to have had a
good nights’ sleep and [cough]. In a few moments, we will see General
Wainwright and the other generals coming in from the left.
1:31:590 [Adams] Howard Pyle has just arrived with General Wainwright and his
party directly from Yokohama. You’ve traveled pretty far in the last twentyfour hours Howard.
1:39:228 [Pyle] Right you are, John, we’ve had a very thrilling experience,
that of being privileged to see the signing on the battleship Missouri
yesterday morning, perhaps along about this hour or a little earlier, and
then in the last twenty-four hours we have traveled some twenty-four hundred
miles by C-fifty-four transport and as a result we are here for the second
signing. Personally, I feel a great satisfaction because I happen to be the
only broadcaster, or should I say press representative, press or radio, who
can say, to have believed that he has seen both of these ceremonies.
2:13:778 [Pyle] Quite a contrast I might add between the Missouri to this
point, high in the mountains of Northern Luzan. Baguio, as you know, is fivethousand feet up. Tokyo Bay is right on sea level. The Missouri, yesterday,
was a crowded battleship, if ever I’ve seen one. Here we have the small
living room of the commissioner’s house, rather congested I might add,
because of the number of persons who much congregate here in order to make
this picture complete from an official point of view.
2:44:644 [Pyle] Our flight, twenty-four-hundred miles – we took off from
Atsugi airstrip near Yokohama yesterday about Noon. We traveled to Iwo Jima
because of a tornadic typhoon wind that was in the area around Okinawa. And
from Iwo Jima, we flew in here last night, arriving this morning about two

o’clock at Nichols Field. General Wainwright stood the trip beautifully as
did Lieutenant General Arthur Percival.
3:11:030 [unidentified] Rise.
3:13:047 [Pyle] We are now to have the official entry of General Wainwright.
General Star comes in first, General Percival and General Wainwright. General
Leavey is standing immediately back of our microphones. The chairs are being
pulled back now and all of these high-ranking officers, with the Japanese
rank immediately opposite of them at the table.
3:37:576 [Pyle] First voice you will hear, General Leavey.
3:38:371 [Leavey] We are gathered here today to consummate the surrender of
the Japanese (unintelligible).
3:50:334 [Pyle] General Leavey.
3:52:001 [Leavey] (unintelligible) of having with us today, Lieutenant
General Wainwright, United States Army; Lieutenant General Percival of the
British Army; Lieutenant General Styer, Commander of the United States Army
forces in the Western Pacific, all of whom have just arrived from Tokyo where
they witnessed the surrender of Japanese forces Tokyo Bay.
4:16:900 [Leavey] I am present here, this morning, representing the
Commander-in-Chief, United States Army Forces Pacific to accept the surrender
of the Japanese land, sea and air forces (unintelligible).
4:30:226 [Leavey] General Yamashita and Admiral Okochi will now be read into
the surrender. General Wood, will you read the Instrument of Surrender?
4:47:549 [Wood] The Instrument of Surrender of the Japanese and Japanesecontrolled armed forces in the Philippine Islands to the Commanding General
United States Army Forces, Western Pacific, Camp John Hay, Baguio, Mountain
Province, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 3 September 1945.
5:07:081 [Wood] Pursuant to and in accordance with the proclamation of the
Emperor of Japan accepting the terms set forth in the declaration issued by
the heads of the Governments of the United States, Great Britain, and China
on 26 July 1945 at Potsdam, and subsequently adhered to by the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics; and to the formal instrument of surrender of the
Japanese Imperial Government and the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters
signed at Tokyo Bay at 10 09 08 on 2 September 1945.
5:42:989 [Wood] 1. Acting by command of and in behalf of the Emperor of
Japan, the Japanese Imperial Government and the Japanese Imperial General
Headquarters, we hereby surrender unconditionally to the Commanding General,
United States Army Forces, Western Pacific, all Japanese and Japanesecontrolled armed forces, air, sea, ground and auxiliary, in the Philippine
Islands.
6:09:771 [Wood] 2. We hereby command all Japanese forces wherever situated in
the Philippine Islands to cease hostilities forthwith, to preserve and save
from damage all ships, aircraft, and military and civil property, and to
comply with all requirements which may be imposed by the Commanding General,
United States Army Forces, Western Pacific, or by his authorized
representatives.
6:36:984 [Wood] 3. We hereby direct the commanders of all Japanese forces in
the Philippine Islands to issue at once to all forces under their command to
surrender unconditionally themselves and all forces under their control, as
prisoners of war, to the nearest United States Army Force Commander.
6:53:660 [Wood] 4. We hereby direct the commanders of all Japanese forces in
the Philippine Islands to surrender intact and in good order to the nearest
United States Army Force Commander, at times and at places directed by him,
all equipment and supplies of whatever nature under their control.
7:11:703 [Wood] 5. We hereby direct the commanders of all Japanese forces in
the Philippine Islands at once to liberate all Allied prisoners of war and
civilian internees under their control, and to provide for their protection,

care, maintenance and immediate transportation to places as directed by the
nearest United States Army Force Commander.
7:33:277 [Wood] 6. We hereby undertake to transmit the directives given in
Paragraphs 1 through 5, above, to all Japanese forces in the Philippine
Islands immediately by all means within our power, and further to furnish to
the Commanding General, United States Army Forces, Western Pacific, all
necessary Japanese emissaries fully empowered to bring about the surrender of
Japanese forces in the Philippine Islands with whom we are not in contact.
7:59:864 [Wood] 7. We hereby undertake to furnish immediately to the
Commanding General, United States Army Forces, Western Pacific, a statement
of the designation, numbers, locations, and commanders of all Japanese armed
forces, ground, sea or air, in the Philippine Islands.
8:16:431 [end]
Side 2 Transcription
0:02:428 [Wood] 8. We hereby undertake faithfully to obey all further
proclamations, orders and directives deemed by the Commanding General, United
States Army Forces, Western Pacific, to be proper to effectuate this
surrender.
0:23:645 [Leavey] General Yamashita, Admiral Okochi, you have been read the
document of Surrender. Are you ready to sign?
0:37:611 [Unknown] (unintelligible) place for General Yamashita and Admiral
Okochi to (unintelligible).
0:55:450 [Adams] Colonel George Bishop has now placed four copies of the
surrender instrument before General Yamashita to sign.
1:10:181 [Adams] The general still seems arrogant and militantly rigid as he
sits there surveying the scene. Perhaps he is recalling another scene that
took place three and one-half years ago, when he had just entered Singapore
and the world had appeared to be his as he dictated the Japanese terms for
the surrender of Singapore at the historic, forty-five minute meeting with
Lieutenant General Percival.
1:34:510 [Adams] It also appeared (unintelligible) not long ago he had made a
pledge to the Philippine Navy, saying “I wish to assure you, one and all,
that my mission of defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity of
this country will be fulfilled, even at the sacrifice of my own life.”
1:50:814 [Adams] When I interviewed the defeated Yamashita yesterday
afternoon in his quarters in this building, I jokingly asked him if he now
planned to commit hara-kiri.
1:59:572 [Adams] The general understood what I meant, as I pointed to his
sagging stomach, and said with a grunting laugh, “hara-kiri, no, no harakiri”.
2:11:214 [Adams] The general is signing the third of the documents now, and
they are being passed across the table to General Leavey. General Leavey, in
turn, will sign the documents.
2:25:205 [Adams] One of the outstanding things that I notice here is the
facing of two men, who have faced each other before. Lieutenant General
Percival, of the British Army, who lost at Singapore to General Yamashita,
and who today is the winner instead.
2:44:575 [Adams] General Yamashita sits here very rigid, his neck stiff, his
hair cropped right to his scalp, stern, dignified, stoic – there are many
words that might be used to describe the predicament; and predicament is the
proper word, too; that the Japanese generals find themselves in at the
moment.
3:07:393 [Adams] Most of the signatures have now been added and in a few
minutes the program, as planned, will continue with the voices of the various
commanders at the table being a part of your participation in this broadcast,

which is coming to you from Baguio, the summer capital of the Philippines,
frequently in the news because Yamashita has been very much a part of this
picture, in this area, for a good many months.
3:35:718 [Adams] Photographers, newsmen stayed behind in the Philippines to
cover this particular job our…
3:43:373 [Leavey] On behalf of the United States Army Forces in the Western
Division and on behalf of the Commander in Chief of the United States Army
Forces, I hereby accept the surrender of the Japanese forces in the
Philippines by signing these documents of acceptance.
4:02:660 [Adams] General Leavey is now putting the pen on the paper and
signing with a flourish. General Percival looks on from his left, General
Styles from his right. A very impressive ceremony. The room is brightly
lighted, green blotters have been placed on the white table cloth. There are
several documents, as you know, that have to be signed in the proper order.
4:23:884 [Adams] They have been handsomely bound in what appears to be, in
sort-of a, leatherette case. I should say that they are about eighteen inches
long and, perhaps, ten inches wide. The faces of our own commanders reflect
all of the feeling of satisfaction that goes with knowing that the battle for
the Philippines is over. The battle in the Pacific is over and the last of
the surrenders is now being affected here in the commissioner’s house,
Baguio.
4:55:567 [Adams] Soon you’ll be seeing newsreels of the theaters of the
country, pictures of this ceremony. When you do, you may recall this
broadcast as having been your most intimate contact with this, the second
surrender, the second surrender of General Yamashita in Baguio in the
Philippines.
5:16:099 [Adams] General Leavey has been using four different gold pens for
this signing. In turn, he signs the surrender document, he handed one of the
first pens to General Wainwright. Then he handed the second pen to General
Percival and the third pen to General Styer.
5:37:691 [unidentified] (unintelligible)
5:52:771 [Adams] Now Colonel Bishop with Major Beckwith is confirming the
seal to each copy of the surrender documents. General Yamashita, and the two
generals and the admiral that are sitting on both sides of him, facing the
array of American and British generals, still sitting very rigidly. They have
surrendered, they are the last of the Japanese generals in the Philippines.
6:10:787 [Adams] Colonel Bishop is completing the sealing now, and here is
Howard Pyle again.
6:18:087 [Pyle] Thank you, John. Your mention of General Wainwright receiving
the first pen used by General Leavey, recalls our experience on board the
Missouri yesterday. General Wainwright o his way down from Tokyo Bay in our
plane last night, repeatedly mentioned last night that General MacArthur had
handed him the first pen used in signing the document. It seemed to please
General Wainwright almost more than anything that had happened. General
Leavey.
6:43:309 [Leavey] (unintelligible)
6:47:316 [Pyle] General Leavey hands Yamashita the document. An interpreter
stands by explaining the procedure to the general.
7:01:067 [Leavey] This concludes the ceremony of surrender. The Japanese
representatives will (unintelligible) from the room under guard as prisoners
of war.
7:15:974 [Pyle] The war in the Philippines now seems to be over. General
Leavey has said that the surrender has been signed and the Japanese generals
and admirals will now leave the room under guard as prisoners of war.
7:30:176 [Pyle] And here is Major Kenworthy, head of the MP command, who is
asking General Yamashita to stand and leave the room. In front of him is

general, uh, Admiral Okochi, and General Yamashita is followed by one of his
chiefs of staff.
7:49:220 [Pyle] John, there is one thing here that I noticed that I think
would be well brought out; yesterday, the nation, the allied powers and the
Japanese government were the principals involved in the surrender aboard the
Missouri in accordance with a grand spectacle, not only because of the
circumstances of the signing, but I think more particularly because it
signified the official end of the war.
8:10:774 [Pyle] Here today we have seen General Wainwright and General
Percival get that personal satisfaction that goes with retribution, as they
would have had it. General Yamashita has given up in their very person, and
in their very presence. So, yesterday it was the nation – today it was the
individual matter of two defeated generals becoming, at last, the victors
because of the courage, which they have showed in waiting out the period of
fighting. Here is John, again.
8:41:936 [Adams] All of the American delegation have now left the room, and
other witnesses of the ceremony, are going out on the steps of the high
commissioner’s residence to have a picture taken for historical purposes.
Within a little while, General Yamashita and his staff will be starting the
long trip to Manila. Their address will be new (unintelligible), where more
than ten thousand other Japanese prisoners of war are now guests of the U.S.
Army.
9:07:001 [Adams] An additional forty thousand are estimated to be involved in
today’s surrender, but it may be months before they are all rounded up.
9:14:634 [Adams] This is John Adams and Howard Pyle reporting the surrender
of General Yamashita, Admiral Okochi, and the Japanese forces in the
Philippines, in Baguio in Northern Luzan. We return you to the combined
network in the United States.
9:29:495 [end]