World War 2, also known as the second world war, began on September 1, 1939 and ended on September 2, 1945. On the start date, Germany, under the Nazi government, invaded Poland and soon afterwards was invading and then defeating the militaries of most of the countries of Europe. The military leader of Germany, Adolph Hitler, had plans for world conquest. Fascist Italy attacked Great Britain and France and made an alliance with Germany. In 1943, Italy lost the war. Japan attacked the USA possession territory of Hawaii at Pearl Harbor in 1941. Japan, and its territorial possessions were conquered in 1945. With the USA dropping two atomic bombs over Japan, on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, just, 3 days apart, as there was no surrender then, the actions caused Japan to finally surrender on September 2, 1945. Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945.
During the close of World War II, Russia (formerly known as the USSR) seized all the Kuril Islands of Japan, and never returned any of them to Japan. World War 2 produced over 49 million civilian deaths, over 24 million battle deaths, and over 25 million battle wounded.
The Emperor of Japan during World War 2, Hirohito (1901-1989), known posthumously as Emperor Showa, and Japan’s longest serving monarch in history, was revered as a God on earth. The Japanese Emperor was believed to be the offspring of the sun Goddess of Shinto. All of those official Japanese government sponsored divinity claims of the emperor were dropped after World War 2., under the signed unconditional surrender terms for Japan.
The vast majority of people in the USA do not know that there are American military cemeteries in foreign countries. These military cemeteries number 26 and were created and maintained by The American Battle Monument Commission (ABMC) and are located in 10 foreign nations: France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Mexico, Netherlands, and Tunisia.
The biggest American military cemetery in the world is the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial, located just outside Saint-Avoid, Moselle, France. The cemetery and memorials covers 114.5 acres and has 10, 489 graves, and is the largest number of any American World War 2 cemetery in Europe. There are 10 other American military cemeteries in France. Some of these French cemeteries just hold the bodies of dead American troops since World War 1 (July 28, 1914 to November 11, 1918). At least one American military cemetery in France contains the remains of American soldiers who died in both World War 1 and World War 2.
Here are a few stories of haunted military bases owned by the USA government:
Camp Zama, located in the cities of Zama and Sagamihara, in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. At the base chapel, strange figures have been seen passing by, and then disappearing. People have sensed odd presences in rooms. Doors would mysteriously open and then unnaturally close. Footsteps were heard late at night. A certain sergeant Joshua Lee once said, regarding the camp, that “Chapel lights switch on and doors open seemingly on their own”. A Japanese bunker that lies underground at Camp Zama is long rumored to be haunted. The spirit of a War World 2 soldier, bloody and dressed in a raggedy uniform, is said to appear at times and ask people for “a light for a cigarette”.
Camp Foster in Okinawa, Japan is alleged to be the home of a ghostly samurai warrior who eternally travels from Stillwell Drive uphill toward Futenma Housing. The Era of the Samurai Warriors was 1185-1868.
Kadena Air Base in Kadena, Okinawa, Japan has legends of ghostly activities. A small house, numbered 2283, behind the Kadena United services Organization is used for storage since people are reluctant to live there because of stories of a man who murdered his familly there and of the air base being built upon ancient burial ground. Kadena and site numbered 9217, the golf course, is a place where, according to lore, in 1945 a group of high school girls were pressed into service by the Japanese Imperial Army and then committed suicide. People believe ghosts from these incidents still haunt the land. On almost every corner on and off military bases in Okinawa there are ghost stories. These various ghost stories there are so numerous that the Marine Corps Community Services and the 18th Services Squadron on Kadena Air Base both run special Halloween spooky sites tours which sell out weeks in advance.
Joint Base Pearl Harbor, Hickham, Hawaii-shortly after 2,403 soldiers were killed from the December 7, 1941 surprise attack by the Japanese aerial fleet, many military members were experiencing shocking paranormal occurrences. In bunks and machine gun rooms, the lights would flicker on and off and doors and cabinets burst open. At the base museum, staff heard disembodied murmurs and phonographic music coming from the main floor. Ghostly activities are so prevalent that multiple paranormal investigators have congregated to the premises capturing spectral orbs, footsteps, and voices in their recordings and photographs.
We will now examine a few examples of the many stories, of haunted ships from during World War 2.
The USS Hornet, Alameda, California- the crews fought in World war 2 and much later the Vietnam (Indo China War) 1964-1975 with a heavy toll of men killed in action. The ship is part of the USS Hornet, Sea, Air, and Space Museum and the ship is open for overnight visitors. Staff and guests have seen ghostly uniformed sailors materialize in the ship’s corridors and discovered electronic devices functioning very bizarrely. Such strange events are so commonplace that the museum has started offering paranormal tours of the ship.
The USS Arizona, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii-the ship and more than 1,100 sailors were murdered by the Japanese forces at Pearl Harbor in 1941. The ship is on the Pacific Ocean bottom at Pearl Harbor with a floating memorial constructed over allowing observers to peer down the blue waters to see the ship’s form below. From the engines, tiny drops of motor oil still rise to the surface and shimmer across the waves. Many military personnel assigned to the area have reported hearing mysterious noises and disembodied screams that come from the harbor.
The USS Lexington at Corpus Christi, Texas-this ships and a number of crew were sunk in the Battle of the Coral Sea, fighting alongside the American warship The USS Yorktown in May 1942. The ship is a maritime museum in Corpus Christi, Texas. Numerous ghostly stories abound with the ship and its crew. The most popular ghostly tales deal with sightings of sailors guiding lost guests back to the deck and a sailor, at first wrongly thought of as a museum host and escort giving speeches on how the turbines work, before magically vanishing into thin air.
USS Yorktown, Charleston, South Carolina-sunk during the Battle of Midway (Midway Island; “Midway” to Japan) as World War 2 was raging, 141 Americans perished. That ship, which was the 3rd ship named Yorktown, still lies at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. A clone ship of the sunken ship, called the USS Yorktown Number 4, commissioned in 1953 is docked at Charleston Harbor as a floating museum. That ship has numerous supernatural stories about it. From supernatural apparitions to mysterious shadowy figures caught on film to whispers, and the slamming of bulkhead doors, and paranormal investigators have examined the ship. 90 minute Ghost tours, with history lectures and ghostly reports described are conducted on the USS Yorktown.
There are many, ghost stories involving the restless spirits of the dead of World War II.
