Palmer vet led Japanese surrender

In 1945, while serving as an orderly for Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, Palmer resident Mile France would sling clay pigeons onboard the USS Panamint for the admiral.

Little did he know that in that capacity, he would also become a part of U.S. history.

In September of 1945, while stationed in Ominato, Japan, France led a delegation of high-ranking Japanese military personnel on to the Panamint to surrender Ominato Air Force Base, giving the American military a clear-cut victory over the Japanese.

When asked whether or not he knew he was taking part in such a red-letter day in American history, France said he was oblivious.

"I didn't know it then," France said. "I was just doing what I was told."

He admits that he hasn't thought that much about the day since then, either.

"You always hear about the Japanese surrender on the Missouri, but I've never heard one thing about the surrender on the Panamint," France said. "I just haven't thought about it."

France first moved to Alaska in 1935. During the summers, he would work in fish camps and canneries, and it was there he first got his taste of military life.

"The last year in the cannery, I worked on a boat, and the Navy took it over and hauled stuff from Kodiak to the Aleutians," France said. "They talked about the military, and so I decided to go to Seattle and sign up for the Marines."

He did that in the fall of 1942, but when he got there, he found out he wasn't yet 21 years old, and he had to wait a few days before he could sign up. So how did he spend that time? Not the way you would think a 20-year-old man would.

"I jumped on a plane to Bemidji, Minnesota and proposed to my wife," France said. "She said yes, and now that's almost 60 years ago."

After getting back to Seattle, he officially enlisted on Dec. 9, 1942 -- five days after his 21st birthday. He went to San Diego for boot camp -- "those guys on the boat in the cannery never talked about boot camp," France said -- and then was stationed in Hawaii.

He served several tours of duty in various Pacific ports, fighting in numerous battles. In a battle near Saipan, France was shot under his left shoulder.

"It came in and went out my back and didn't hit any of the vital organs," France exclaimed. "I was lucky."

Luck would find France once again when he was in the right place at the right time, leading that Japanese delegation to surrender.

"To me, it was just another day then," France said.

After getting discharged in Seattle after almost four years of service, France and his wife, Donna, came back to Alaska.

They met in Alaska, and Donna went back to Minnesota with her mother when war was declared. Before going back to Minnesota, Donna's family owned the Fairview Inn in Talkeetna in the 1930s.

After their return, the Frances built a homestead near Palmer, and had four children -- a son and three daughters. For almost 60 years, Palmer has been the place they hang their hat, and they could not imagine living anywhere else, Donna said.

"We left and then came back here," Donna said. "It's home for us."

France put 30 years of work into the Road Commission before retiring in the late 1970s.

France is everything Alaska -- he proudly shows his certificate for a sheep he killed that is one of the 100 largest recorded sheep, and his house is filled with Alaska scenic paintings done by artists including his daughters, his mother and Fred Machetanz.

He has seen plenty of changes during his 60 years in the Valley, but as he said, "I helped make a lot of those changes with the roads."