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VJ Day

U.S. Victory over Japan

World War II, which began with Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939 and ended in 1945, claimed more lives than any other war in history. Upwards of about 60 million people lost their lives during this devastating war. The aerial attack by Germany’s ally Japan on Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor military base on December 7, 1941, prompted an immediate declaration of war by the U.S.

An interesting historical side-note is that the Japanese government sent a long, obscurely written declaration of war to its ambassador in Washington to be delivered to President Roosevelt earlier on December 7; however, by the time it was translated into English, the attack already occurred.

On December 11, four days after Japan’s attack, Adolf Hitler’s Germany also declared war on the U.S, marking a full-blown global conflict. According to History.com, the United States’ rapid development of superior technology and productivity eventually enabled the Allies to inflict immense casualties on Japan (2.3 million) while suffering relatively few (74,000)*. By 1945, the Allies were consistently bombarding Japan via air and sea, dropping some 100,000 tons of explosives on more than 60 Japanese cities and towns between March and July 1945 alone.

On August 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped the first ever atomic bomb on Hiroshima. When, even after the obliteration of Hiroshima, a demand by the Allies for unconditional surrender was rejected by the Japanese, the U.S. waited three days before dropping another atomic bomb on Nagasaki. The two devastating nuclear attacks compounded by the Soviet declaration of war on Japan on August 8 led to Japan’s surrender.

Victory over Japan Day, which is also referred to as “Victory in the Pacific Day,” “V-J Day,” or “V-P Day,” marks the day the Empire of Japan surrendered in World War II, ending the war. The Allies chose the name “V-J Day” after the naming of “V-E Day” for the victory in Europe.

Several dates are affiliated with Japan’s surrender. History.com states that August 14, 1945, is the day that Japan announced its surrender. Due to time differences between the countries, both August 14 and 15 are known as “Victory over Japan Day” or “V-J Day.”

In Japan, August 15 is regarded as the “memorial day for the end of the war,” but the official name is “the day for mourning of war dead and praying for peace.” Annually on this date, Japan’s government holds an official, secular ceremony in Tokyo. The ceremony, called the Japan National Memorial Service for War Dead, commemorates the victims of WWII.

September 2, 1945, marks Japan’s formal surrender-signing ceremony, which was held in Tokyo Bay aboard the anchored U.S.S. Missouri. The ship is now a museum located in Oahu.

For more reading on WWII or the Allied victory over Japan, explore Hale’s Handful…Up From the Ashes: The Forging of the Seventh Air Force from the Ashes of Pearl Harbor to the Triumph of VJ-Day by Major Peter S. H. Ellis, USAF; Hiroshima by John Hersey; and Days of Infamy by Harry Turtledove.

By Regina Molaro