V-J Day
15 August 1945 marked Victory over Japan or VJ Day, taking a name similar to Victory in Europe Day, which was generally known as VE Day.
It was the day of Emperor Hirohito's radio broadcast to the Japanese people announcing Japan's defeat, and followed on from the atomic bombs Little Boy dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August and Fat Man on Nagasaki on 9 August. Since Japan was the last Axis Power to surrender and VJ Day followed VE Day by three months, VJ Day marked the end of World War II.
The formal Japanese surrender in fact took place on board the battleship USS Missouri on 2 September 1945.
In more recent times VJ Day is sometimes referred to as VP Day (Victory in the Pacific Day) to bring it in line with VE Day where the major enemy power was not singled out in the way VJ Day did to Japan.
See also: Japanese Instrument of Surrender
Referenced By
1945 | Asian Theatre of World War II | Asian theater of World War II | Cabinet War Rooms | Timeline of World War 2 | Timeline of World War II | Timeline of the Second World War | USS Long Island | USS Long Island (CVE-1) | USS Perch (SS-176) | USS Sculpin (SS-191) | USS Tullibee (SS-284) | USS Washington (BB-56) | War of Liberation
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