Gen. Douglas MacArthur

[Ed Palumbo]

The Empire of Japan surrendered unconditionally on 15 August 1945, but the Instrument of Surrender was signed in Tokyo Harbor on the deck of the battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) on 2 September 1945. Acting as primary representative for the United States of America, Gen. Douglas MacArthur signed the document using three fountain pens - one for each word of his signature (General...Douglas...MacArthur), and one of the pens he used for this historic moment belonged to his wife, a Parker Orange Senior Duofold, a series known as "Big Red". Another of the pens was given to the US Military Academy at West Point, NY, and I don't know what make or model it may be, nor do I know the disposition of the third pen. I cannot cite the source, but a naval officer present said he believed Gen. MacArthur presented one of the pens to Gen. Jonathan M. Wainright. Gen. Wainwright, emaciated by four years of captivity and harsh treatment as a prisoner of war of the Japanese after the fall of Bataan, was standing in the first rank behind Gen. MacArthur when the surrender was signed.

The actual Big Red was "lost" (I don't know if it was misplaced or stolen) and Parker Pens made limited production run of 1,945 Big Red pens in 1995, presenting the first of them to Mrs. MacArthur, the General's widow, in New York City.

As a sidelight, it is said the pens used by the Japanese delegation to sign the document were destroyed.

[dpmahon]

The Empire of Japan surrendered unconditionally on 15 August 1945, but the Instrument of Surrender was signed in Tokyo Harbor on the deck of the battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) on 2 September 1945. Acting as primary representative for the United States of America, Gen. Douglas MacArthur signed the document using three fountain pens - one for each word of his signature (General...Douglas...MacArthur), and one of the pens he used for this historic moment belonged to his wife, a Parker Orange Senior Duofold, a series known as "Big Red". Another of the pens was given to the US Military Academy at West Point, NY, and I don't know what make or model it may be, nor do I know the disposition of the third pen. I cannot cite the source, but a naval officer present said he believed Gen. MacArthur presented one of the pens to Gen. Jonathan M. Wainright. Gen. Wainwright, emaciated by four years of captivity and harsh treatment as a prisoner of war of the Japanese after the fall of Bataan, was standing in the first rank behind Gen. MacArthur when the surrender was signed.

The actual Big Red was "lost" (I don't know if it was misplaced or stolen) and Parker Pens made limited production run of 1,945 Big Red pens in 1995, presenting the first of them to Mrs. MacArthur, the General's widow, in New York City.

As a sidelight, it is said the pens used by the Japanese delegation to sign the document were destroyed.

I read some place that 1 of the pens was a Parker 51.

[George]

Parker 51's were used in the European signing by Eisenhower.

 

George

[antoniosz]

Check here also for some older discussion: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...uglas+MacArthur

 

[Shangas]

I read on...I think it was...www.parker51.com, that a '51' was used in the signing of the surrender with the Japanese, but everything *else* that I've read said that it was a Duofold. Someone here is wrong. Or perhaps the '51' *was* one of the three pens used by McArthur, along with his wife's Duofold?

 

***

 

Ed, you say Parker produced 1945 limited-edition Parker Duofold 'Big Reds' in 1995 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII. I saw one of those on eBay, in the neat wooden box and Gen. McArthur's signature on it. Nice pens...

 

Anyway, you said one of them was given to Mrs. McArthur by the Parker company. When did Mrs. McArthur pass away? Or is she still alive?

[Ed Palumbo]

Antoniosz,

Thank you for providing that link with photos. Gen. Jonathan M. Wainright is the very thin gentleman standing behind Gen. MacArthur and, in one photo, he is carrying a pen in his right hand that the General handed him after he used it. Another photo shows Gen. MacArthur signing with the Big Red. Truly, a photo is worth a thousand words.

 

Shangas,

Mrs. Jean MacArthur, the General's (second) wife passed away in NYC in year 2000 at age 101. General and Mrs. MacArthur had a son, and it was presumed he had the Big Red his father used for his signature, but I have no resource to corroborate that. It wasn't accounted for in 1995. I'm curious, do you remember what the asking price was of the limited production Big Red that you saw?

[Shangas]

I saw it on eBay like six months ago, I honestly couldn't remember. It was labelled something like: "GENERAL DOUGLAS MCARTHUR LIMITED EDITION PARKER DUOFOLD BIG RED FOUNTAIN PEN". It came with a wooden pen-box, papers, a metal plaque or something, affixed to the box, and a reproduction Parker Duofold senior, in red, of course, with the general's signature on the cap. I can't remember what the price was, but I can assure you it wasn't cheap!

[CharlieB]

I was working in the Pentagon in the 1980s when they built a special corridor to honor General Douglas MacArthur. In a sense, they were rehabilitating his reputation after 30+ years of being tainted by having been "fired" by President Truman during the Korean War. (The Department of Defense has traditionally identified itself with Dwight Eisenhower, George Marshall, Omar Bradley, and Truman rather than with MacArthur.) President Reagan came to the Pentagon to preside at the dedication ceremony for the MacArthur Corridor, and Mrs. MacArthur was with him. She looked very old and frail, so it surprises me to read above that she lived another 15 years.

[dcwaites]

I wrote about this a few months ago.

 

Apparently, there were five pens used, --

 

General MacArthur was the first signatory for the Allies. According to the film, he used five pens in signing the two documents. The first was given to US General Wainwright and the second to British General Percival. The third went to West Point and fourth to the US National Archives. All these pens were black. The fifth pen was red (or plum) and went to MacArthur's wife. According to Wikipedia there was a sixth pen which went to MacArthur's aide. I can't tell from the vision in the film whether there were 5 pens or 6.

 

 

[Ed Palumbo]

dcwaites,

The book I'd relied upon as a reference cited only three pen, but quite possibly may not have included or considered the second copy of the Instrument of Surrender. If the film includes others, I stand corrected and six pens would make sense, since the General would likely have used three for Japan's copy of the document as well. Thank you for clarifying that.

All the best,

Ed

[Spaceman3750]

I believe I may know someone who is in possession of one of these pens, but I'm not positive. She has mentioned something about owning the pen that MacArthur signed something about Japan with, I can't remember the specific document name but I can't think of any other notable documents...

[johnee]

Ed, here is a link for an LE MacArthur pen, pretty pricey...

 

 

Also, there is a video link in the link above to a Nation Archives Film of the signing ceremony which clearly says MacArthur used six pens.

 

Thanks for starting this thread, it pointed me to the other discussion and the archival film footage.

 

John.

[Ed Palumbo]

Johnee,

Thank you very much for providing this link. No question, six (6) pens were used. I wish I knew all the brands and models, but perhaps some details should remain a mystery...just to provide us reasons for research. I have never seen this news film, and I appreciate seeing it now.

All the best,

Ed

[mturk]

I don't remember where I read this, but it was in some document of the period: one of the pens used for the Japanese surrender was a Parker 51 supplied by an American Admiral (perhaps Chester Nimitz), and the 1928 red Duofold was MacArthur's personal pen.

[Shangas]

The Duofold was definitely McArthur's own. I think his wife gave it to him specially for the occasion.

[ebwatt]

Does anyone know what kind of ink was used?

 

Eb

[mturk]

I would assume whatever ink the US Government issued the contract for. I'd bet it was neither Quink nor Skrip.

[Rekord]

I saw it on eBay like six months ago, I honestly couldn't remember. It was labelled something like: "GENERAL DOUGLAS MCARTHUR LIMITED EDITION PARKER DUOFOLD BIG RED FOUNTAIN PEN". It came with a wooden pen-box, papers, a metal plaque or something, affixed to the box, and a reproduction Parker Duofold senior, in red, of course, with the general's signature on the cap. I can't remember what the price was, but I can assure you it wasn't cheap! <img src="https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />

 

http://www.montgomerypens.com/product_detail.asp?product_id=4534

 

Only about 1700$ !

[Barnett]

Reading through each reply and going to any referenced sites made me understand another aspect of our hobby. We are able to have a very real sense of the moment via the tactile pleasure of holding and using these fine instruments. I can grab my Big Red, fondle it, uncap it and begin to let it float across the page leaving it's trail of thoughts. I can feel what MacArthur's hands were doing at that moment.

I think that this is one reason why technology has not fully eradicated the use fountain pens.

Bart

[pajaro]

Reading through each reply and going to any referenced sites made me understand another aspect of our hobby. We are able to have a very real sense of the moment via the tactile pleasure of holding and using these fine instruments. I can grab my Big Red, fondle it, uncap it and begin to let it float across the page leaving it's trail of thoughts. I can feel what MacArthur's hands were doing at that moment.

I think that this is one reason why technology has not fully eradicated the use fountain pens.

Bart

 

I think you have made a very important point and expressed it quite well.