The Syonan Shimbun (September 2, 1945)
World at peace again: Formal surrender of Japan concluded
Agreement signed on U.S. battleship today
On board the 45,000-ton USS Missouri, amid an armada of Allied naval strength riding at anchor in Tokyo Bay, the formal surrender of Japan to the Allies took place this morning at 11 o’clock Tokyo Time.
The proceedings were broadcast from the United States battleship, and relayed by practically all the radio stations of the world, announcing to all nations that as from today the world is again at peace.
With great pomp and splendour, and yet with a solemnity befitting the occasion, Mamoru Shigemitsu, Japanese Foreign Minister, as representative of the Emperor of Japan, and the Chief of Staff of the Japanese Imperial Headquarters, representing the Japanese armed forces, affixed their signatures to the surrender document. On behalf of the Allies, Gen. Douglas MacArthur signed the agreement.
Lieut. General Arthur E. Percival and Lieut. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, commanders of Singapore and Corregidor respectively at the time of the Japanese offensive in 1942, were called upon by Gen. MacArthur to sign as witnesses.
Then followed the signing of the document by representatives of the Allied nations, in the following order: United States of America, Republic of China, United Kingdom, USSR, Australia, Canada, France, Netherlands and New Zealand.
With this, the proceedings for the formal surrender of Japan were brought to a close.
Harry Truman, President of the United States, then addressed the world from Washington, D.C. In a nine-minute broadcast, Truman said that, thanks to the supreme efforts of the Allies, peace had at last been restored to the world. He hoped that this peace would long continue.
The past years of war against Germany and Japan had been dark years in the history of the world, years which, however, saw the Allies growing from weakness to strength and the world had just listened to the ceremony of the formal surrender of Japan crowning the efforts of the United Nations.
Truman expressed profound gratitude for and deep sympathy with the families of those servicemen and civilians who died in the battlefields of Europe and Asia. He acknowledged that even this final victory could not make up for their loss. To them the world, especially those spared by Providence from the horrors of war, owe an irreparable debt.