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 A rush of relief
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| Frank Roddin was still an Army private in basic training, in Georgia, on kitchen duty, when a sergeant announced the Japanese surrender with the clattering of pots and pans.
Gregory Yamamoto | The Honolulu Advertiser
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Frank Roddin was still in basic training in Georgia, an 18-year-old Army private from Brooklyn pulling KP duty on V-J Day.
A sergeant walked into the kitchen and dumped a bunch of pots and pans on the floor with a noisy clatter before announcing that Japan had surrendered, Roddin recalled.
The rest of the day remained quiet, though.
"We were just delighted to hear the news," said Roddin, now a 78-year-old Waikiki resident. "We were young kids."
Roddin felt a rush of relief that day. The war was over. There would be no invasion of Japan.
Military officials had predicted that the Japanese would fight to the death and that an invasion would create enormous casualties on both sides.
"They predicted a million American troops would be killed," Roddin said. "They said they would fight you with pitchforks and beat you over the head and never surrender."
Before V-J Day, the planned invasion had given the young Roddin a sobering dose of reality, one shared by many Americans.
"You were not so much fearful," he said. "It was your job. But you realized the seriousness of it, and you realized you might never come back."
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