Japanese Sign Final Surrender, 1945
Newsreel footage showing the signing of the Japanese surrender documents aboard the battleship USS Missouri in the Bay of Tokyo on Sept. 2, 1945.
September 2 - Instrument of Surrender, 09/02/1945
Aboard the USS Missouri, this instrument of surrender was signed on September 2, 1945, by the Japanese envoys Foreign Minister Mamora Shigemitsu and Gen. Yoshijiro Umezu, after an informal surrender on August 14. Prepared by the U.S. War Department and approved by President Harry S. Truman, it set out in eight short paragraphs the complete capitulation of Japan. The short second paragraph went straight to the heart of the matter: “We hereby proclaim the unconditional surrender to the Allied Powers of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters and of all Japanese armed forces and all armed forces under Japanese control wherever situated.”
Celebrating V-J Day
The surrender of Japan during World War II was announced on August 14, 1945, effectively ending the war, although the official Instrument of Surrender would not be signed until September 2, 1945. Germany had surrendered 3 months earlier on May 7, 1945.
- “American servicemen and women gather in front of ’Rainbow Corner’ Red Cross club in Paris to celebrate the unconditional surrender of the Japanese.” August 15, 1945, McNulty, Photographer, (111-SC-210241)
- “Enlisted men aboard the U.S.S. Ticonderoga (CV-14) hear the news of Japan’s surrender.”, 08/14/1945
- New York City celebrating the surrender of Japan. They threw anything and kissed anybody in Times Square., 08/14/1945
- V-J Day in New York City. Crowds gather in Times Square to celebrate the surrender of Japan., 08/15/1945
- GI’s at the Rainbow Corner Red Cross Club in Paris, France, whoop it up after buying the special edition of the Paris Post, which carried the banner headline, “JAPS QUIT.”
