New Lisbon man there the day the Japanese surrendered

Wilkinson watched both U.S. and Japan sign treaty

He was there the day the treaty was signed, ending World War II – Sept. 2, 1945. One of only two sailors still alive that witnessed the occasion.

New Lisbon’s Otto Wilkinson remembers being on the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay, as the Japanese signed their names on the Instrument of Surrender.

Afterward, he then watched General Douglas MacArthur, Commander in the Southwest Pacific and Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, sign, and then accepted the Japanese surrender. A year later, almost to the day, the 90-year-old Wilkinson married his wife Carol (both pictured above).

Wilkinson says a credit card sized souvenir, with the Japanese Rising Sun on it, reminds him all the time of where he was on that Sunday in September. And, he does not carry it around, but always connects with the signing.