Japanese Instrument of Surrender

Representatives of Japan stand aboard the USS Missouri prior to signing of the Instrument of Surrender.

The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was the written agreement that established the armistice ending the Pacific War and with it World War II. It was signed by representatives from the Empire of Japan, the United States of America, the Republic of China, the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, the Provisional Government of the French Republic, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the Dominion of New Zealand on the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. The date is sometimes known as Victory over Japan Day, although that designation is more frequently used to refer to the date of Emperor Hirohito's Gyokuon-hōsō (Imperial Rescript of Surrender), the radio broadcast announcement of the acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration on August 15.

Surrender ceremony

Gen. Douglas MacArthur signs the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the Allied Powers

Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the Japanese Government, ending World War II.

The signing ceremony aboard the deck of the Missouri lasted twenty-three minutes and was broadcast throughout the world. The instrument was first signed by the Japanese foreign minister Mamoru Shigemitsu "By Command and on behalf of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese Government" and then General Yoshijiro Umezu, Chief of the Army General Staff, "By Command and on behalf of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters" at 09:04. Afterwards, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur, Commander in the Southwest Pacific and Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, also signed. As witnesses, U.S. Lieutenant General Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright IV, who had surrendered the Philippines, and British Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, who had surrendered Singapore, received two of the six pens he used to sign the instrument. Another pen went to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and one to his aide. All of the pens used by MacArthur were black, except the last which was plum colored and went to his wife. A replica of it, along with copies of the instrument of surrender, is in a case on the Missouri by the plaque marking the signing spot.

After MacArthur's signature as Supreme Commander, the following representatives signed the instrument of surrender on behalf of each of the Allied Powers:

• Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz for the United States,
• General Hsu Yung-Ch'ang for the Republic of China,
• Admiral Bruce Fraser for the United Kingdom,
• Lieutenant General Kuzma Derevyanko for the Soviet Union,
• General Sir Thomas Blamey for Australia,
• Colonel Lawrence Moore Cosgrave for Canada,
• General Philippe Leclerc de Hautecloque for France,
• Vice Admiral C.E.L. Helfrich for the Netherlands, and
• Air Vice-Marshal Leonard M. Isitt for New Zealand (see photo of him signing).

On September 6, Colonel Bernard Theilen brought the document and an imperial rescript to Washington, D.C., and presented them to President Harry Truman in a formal White House ceremony the following day. The documents were then exhibited at the National Archives.

Flags flown at the ceremony

Huge formation of American planes over USS Missouri and Tokyo Bay celebrating the signing, September 2, 1945.

The deck of the Missouri furnished two American flags. One had flown from the mast of Commodore Matthew Perry's ship when he had sailed into Tokyo Bay nearly a century before to force the opening of Japan's ports to foreign trade. MacArthur was a direct descendant of the New England Perry family and cousin of Commodore Matthew Perry. Perhaps it was MacArthur who insisted on the flag and saw himself as a second "opener" of Japan rather than the nation's conqueror. It is often said that the second flag had flown over the White House on the day Pearl Harbor was attacked. However, Captain Stuart Murray of the Missouri explained:

"At eight o’clock we had hoisted a clean set of colors at the mainmast and a clean Union Jack at the bow as we were at anchor, and I would like to add that these were just regular ship’s flags, GI issue, that we’d pulled out of the spares, nothing special about them, and they had never been used anywhere so far as we know, at least they were clean and we had probably gotten them in Guam in May. So there was nothing special about them. Some of the articles in the history say this was the same flag that was flown on the White House or the National Capitol on 7 December 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and at Casablanca, and so forth, also MacArthur took it up to Tokyo and flew it over his headquarters there. The only thing I can say is they were hard up for baloney, because it was nothing like that. It was just a plain ordinary GI-issue flag and a Union Jack. We turned them both in to the Naval Academy Museum when we got back to the East Coast in October. The only special flag that was there was a flag which Commodore Perry had flown on his ship out in that same location 82 years before. It was flown out in its glass case from the Naval Academy Museum. An officer messenger brought it out. We put this hanging over the door of my cabin, facing forward, on the surrender deck so that everyone on the surrender deck could see it."

Text of the document

Japan Surrender Document.

"We, acting by command of and on behalf of the Emperor of Japan, the Japanese Government and the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, hereby accept the provisions in the declaration issued by the heads of the Governments of the United States, China, and Great Britain 26 July 1945 at Potsdam, and subsequently to by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which four powers are hereafter referred to as the Allied Powers.

"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.

"We hereby command all Japanese forces wherever situated and the Japanese people to cease hostilities forthwith, to preserve and save from damage all ships, aircraft, and military and civil property, and to comply with all requirements which may be imposed by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers or by agencies of the Japanese Government at his direction.

"We hereby command the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters to issue at once orders to the commanders of all Japanese forces and all forces under Japanese control wherever situated to surrender unconditionally themselves and all forces under their control.

"We hereby command all civil, military, and naval officials to obey and enforce all proclamations, orders, and directives deemed by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers to be proper to effectuate this surrender and issued by him or under his authority; and we direct all such officials to remain at their posts and to continue to perform their non-combatant duties unless specifically relieved by him or under his authority.

"We hereby undertake for the Emperor, the Japanese Government, and their successors to carry out the provisions of the Potsdam Declaration in good faith, and to issue whatever orders and take whatever action may be required by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers or by any other designated representative of the Allied Powers for the purpose of giving effect to that declaration.

"We hereby command the Japanese Imperial Government and the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters at once to liberate all Allied Prisoners of War and civilian internees now under Japanese control and to provide for their protection, care, maintenance, and immediate transportation to places as directed.

"The authority of the Emperor and the Japanese Government to rule the State shall be subject to the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, who will take such steps as he deems proper to effectuate these terms of surrender".

Signed at TOKYO BAY, JAPAN at 09.04 on the SECOND day of SEPTEMBER, 1945

Mamoru Shigemitsu By Command and in behalf of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese Government

Yoshijiro Umezu By Command and in behalf of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters

Accepted at TOKYO BAY, JAPAN at 0908 on the SECOND day of SEPTEMBER, 1945, for the United States, Republic of China, United Kingdom and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and in the interests of the other United Nations at war with Japan.

Douglas MacArthur
Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers

C.W. Nimitz
United States Representative

Hsu Yung-Ch'ang
Republic of China Representative

Bruce Fraser
United Kingdom Representative

Kuzma Derevyanko
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Representative

Thomas Blamey
Commonwealth of Australia Representative

L. Moore Cosgrave
Dominion of Canada Representative

Jacques Leclerc
Provisional Government of the French Republic Representative

C.E.L. Helfrich
Kingdom of the Netherlands Representative

Leonard M. Isitt
Dominion of New Zealand Representative

Differences between the two treaties

The Japanese copy of the treaty varied greatly from the Allied in the following ways:

^ The Allied copy was presented in leather and gold lining with both countries' seals printed on the front, where as the Japanese copy was bound in rough canvas with no seals on the front.

^ The Canadian representative, Colonel Lawrence Moore Cosgrave, signed below his line instead above it on the Japanese copy, forcing everyone after him to sign one line below the intended one. General Sutherland had to strikethrough the names of the countries and write them in their correct positions in order for the Japanese representatives to accept the document.

The table

The original, pristine table of King George which was donated by the British Royal Family, which was to have been used for the treaties to be signed on, was found to be too short to fit all of the essential papers, and was instead replaced with a canteen table from the Missouri, and covered with a coffee stained table cloth. After the signing, Capt. William M. Callaghan requested that the table be preserved, and with his first mate attempted to locate the table. They were able to find the table cloth, but the table had been returned to the galley. The head chef was initially perplexed by the request for the table, and said they could take whichever they wanted. They then explained the significance of the most recently returned table, and the Chef offered them one of the normal tables from the middle of the room. It is widely accepted that the table displayed in the U.S. Navy Museum is not in fact the actual table which the signing took place on, and the chef had simply claimed that it was to avoid argument. When the chef was later asked if it really was the table, he replied "For now, I'm sticking to my story."

See also

• German Instrument of Surrender, 1945
• Imperial General Headquarters
• Surrender of Japan
• Victory over Japan Day
• Occupied Japan
• Japanese holdout

External links

• National Archives & Records Administration Featured Document
• USS Missouri's Captain Stuart Murray interviewed about the surrender ceremony
• Alsos Digital Library bibliography of references on Japan's surrender
• Instrument of Surrender (full text)
• MaritimeQuest Japanese Surrender Pages