In August 1945, John K. Bremyer undertook a 124-hour, 9,000-mile journey to Tokyo Bay, where he delivered the flag flown by Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853 to Admiral William Halsey's USS "Missouri" ...

For the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay, a Navy officer had a frantic top secret mission. Seventy-five years ago, Lt. John Bremyer raced 6,000 miles from Washington with an aged American flag.

A wire from Halsey had arrived at the U.S. Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Maryland, on August 23. The urgent request sought delivery of the flag from Perry’s 1853 Tokyo expedition to the ...