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14th August 2026
This is the story of VJ Day, what happened in August 1945, and why the generation who fought in the Far East must never be forgotten.
VJ Day, or Victory over Japan Day, is observed in the UK and other Commonwealth countries on 15th August each year. It marks the announcement of Japan's surrender in 1945 and the end of the Second World War.
While VE Day celebrated the end of fighting in Europe three months earlier, thousands of British and Commonwealth service personnel remained deployed in the Far East, where the conflict continued against
The war in the Pacific began in earnest on 7th December 1941, when Japan launched a surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. Within days, Britain and the United States had both declared war on Japan.
The fighting stretched across an enormous area, from the borders of India to the islands of the Pacific. British, Indian, Australian, African and other Commonwealth troops made up the Allied forces, fighting in conditions very different from those in Europe: dense jungle, monsoon rains, extreme heat and diseases that claimed as many lives as the fighting itself.
On 7 May 1945, Nazi Germany officially surrendered, and the war in Europe was over. However, in the Pacific, fighting between Allied forces and Imperial Japan continued.
By the summer of 1945, Japan's defeat was closing in, but its forces showed no sign of giving up. American bombing campaigns had devastated Japanese cities, and the battles for Iwo Jima and Okinawa earlier that year had shown just how fiercely Japan was prepared to defend its home islands. Allied commanders feared an invasion of Japan itself could cost hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides.
On 26th July 1945, the United States, Britain and China issued the Potsdam Declaration, calling on Japan to surrender unconditionally. Failure to do so would mean "prompt and utter destruction." Japan rejected these terms.
On 6th August 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, they dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki - the same day Soviet forces launched a large-scale attack on Japanese territories in Manchuria. It marks the first and only time nuclear weapons have been used in warfare.
Faced with devastation on a scale never seen before, Japan's government announced its surrender. On 15th August 1945, Emperor Hirohito made a radio broadcast to the Japanese people, confirming acceptance of the Allied terms for unconditional surrender.
The formal surrender documents were later signed aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on 2nd September 1945, officially bringing the Second World War to a close. In Britain, the news brought an outpouring of relief. Prime Minister Clement Attlee declared two days of national holiday, and crowds gathered to celebrate. After six long years, the war was finally over.
Some people, including some veterans, refer to VJ Day as the "Forgotten War" and name the men who fought it the "Forgotten Army." The campaign in Burma and the wider Far East received far less attention at home than the battles in Europe, despite the brutal conditions the troops faced.
Troops fought through dense jungle, faced intense heat and humidity and battled disease. Those taken prisoner by Japanese forces suffered extreme conditions. Allied POWs were made to do forced labour under brutal conditions, most notoriously on the Burma–Thailand railway, where tens of thousands of prisoners and Asian labourers died during its construction. Many who survived carried the physical and psychological effects of their captivity for the rest of their lives, often in silence.
VJ Day is marked each year with services and ceremonies across the UK. A national service is held at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, often attended by members of the Royal Family and representatives of the Armed Forces. A two-minute silence is observed, and piper tributes and military flypasts form part of the commemorations at larger events. Edinburgh Castle also hosts a service each year.
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