World War II in Europe ended on V-E Day (8 May 1945). It ended in the Pacific later, with the Japanese instrument of surrender signed aboard which ship, on what date?
The Japanese cabinet accepted surrender terms on 14 August and Emperor Hirohito announced it by radio to the Japanese public on 15 August 1945 (V-J Day in some calendars). The formal instrument of surrender was signed two and a half weeks later aboard the *Missouri* in Tokyo Bay on the morning of 2 September 1945. General Douglas MacArthur presided as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers; Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signed for the emperor. The *Arizona* had been sunk at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and was never recovered.
Read the full facts →World War II was a global war fought from 1939 to 1945 between the Axis powers (Germany, Japan, Italy, and others) and the Allied powers (the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, the United States, China, and others). It killed 70–85 million people and is the deadliest conflict in human history.
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