Circle Cinema holds commemmoration for V-J Day, highlighting two Sapulpans

On August 15th, 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allied forces, bringing a preliminary close to World War 2. That date has been known ever since as “V-J Day,” short for “Victory in Japan Day.”

On Friday, 80 years to the date, Circle Cinema in Tulsa held a special event meant to celebrate V-J Day and commemorate the importance of a certain native Sapulpan that helped influence the aftermath of World War 2 in a way that few realize.

Thomas Blakemore, Jr. was born in 1915 in Sapulpa to parents who were both local attorneys. He went on to become a lawyer as well, but not in quite the same way his parents had.

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Rachel Whitney, the director and curator for the Sapulpa Historical Society Museum, explained that Blakemore attended OU and at first studied physics, but then decided to study law. He then earned a scholarship to attend Cambridge University, but it came with a stipulation that required him to study Japanese law.

“So in 1939, he’s in Tokyo, attending Tokyo Imperial University, where he learns Japanese, learns Japanese culture, and learns Japanese law,” she said.

Blakemore goes on to serve on General MacArthur’s staff and becomes critical to establishing the Japanese constitution after World War 2.

As it turns out, Blakemore’s contribution to Japan would go far beyond serving in World War 2.

“In 1950, he became the first non-Japanese lawyer, the first foreign lawyer, to have full credit with the Japanese court,” Whitney said. “And with this, he was able to reconstruct the government, including the role of the Emperor.”

Because of Blakemore’s work on the Japanese Constitution, he was able to help establish a solid relationship as Japan opened up its borders to the global trade industry. “He brought Boeing, Disney, and Frito-Lay to trade amongst America and Japan,” Whitney said. “And that relationship still stands today.”

Rachel Whitney stands in front of a portion of the exhibit for Thomas Blakemore, Jr. at Circle Cinema on August 15th, 2025. Whitney is the director and curator for the Sapulpa Historical Society, which has the on display at Circle Cinema through the remainder of August.

At roughly 7:00 pm, attendees began filing into the theater for a series of clips commemorating V-J Day. Among the clips shown to the audience was that of a “News Parade” segment that would have run at the Circle Cinema at the time:

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After the showing, there was a Q&A panel. Al Hasegawa, who was born in Los Angeles but is of Japanese descent, moderated the panel and joked that he was warned that he’d “better explain which side I was on…”

Hasegawa told the audience that he may have met Blakemore while serving as a primary care physician on the air force base in Japan. “I have two patients that I really remember in the three years I was there, and there was this one man who came who was retired, and he said (in fluent Japanese), ‘I am a lawyer, I was on MacArthur’s staff, and I helped write the Japanese Constitution.'”

“Now, there may be more than one person,” he said to laughter from the audience, “But I was just flabbergasted. I really think I met the guy.” Hasegawa described him as “a very distinguished gentleman, a very kind gentleman.”

Bill Mauch, the 100-year-old World War 2 veteran who fought in the Pacific and was in the Battle of Okinawa, among others, was also in the panel. Someone asked him what it was like seeing the footage of the amphibious assault on the big screen.

“It was emotional,” he began, as he described what it was like in cold hard numbers. “The average amount of deaths, if you include Pearl Harbor, was around 303 per day, each day, over 1300 days. That means 606 relatively young parents were told each day, ‘your child isn’t coming home.'”

The Q&A session at Circle Cinema, featuring WW2 Veteran Bill Mauch (center) and Sapulpa Historical Society Museum Director Rachel Whitney (right). On the far left is East Central High School history teacher Andrew Horowitz

Mauch said his mission now is to “discuss World War as we know it,” adding that although he was one of those fortunate enough to return home after war, he generally concurs with the belief that anyone involved in war is changed in some way. “There are no unwounded soldiers,” he reportedly told Hasegawa.

The Sapulpa Historical Society’s panels on the life and events of Thomas Blakemore, Jr. and his wife, Frances are currently on display at Circle Cinema, where they will remain through the remainder of August.