September 2, 1945
 

We should pause and remember the soldiers, sailors, and marines that sacrificed so much so that we can live in freedom.


Victory over Japan Day - Wikipedia

Well said.

I agree as we have our flags out for both our soldiers and our hard working laborers now and those that labored at home during the war.

The actual date of the surrender and announcement to the US was August 14th. The physical signing of the document, which was the official end of WWII, was September 2.

Kind of surprised there wasn't a big celebration on the 14th, but glad we remember it today in addition to Labor Day.

Absolutely.

Dad was in the Pacific theater as part of the 1st. Cavalry. He never talked much about the war, but did witness the surrender from a ship near the Missouri. From there he was part of the army of occupation. Though he didn't talk much about the actual war he did talk about occupation duties, and the fact that he gained a lot of respect for the Japanese people while there.

When is VJ Day in the U.S.?

In the U.S., VJ day is officially acknowledged on September 2, 1945. This day marked the formal signing of the Instrument of Surrender aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Japan’s Tokyo

That was the day the paperwork was signed. The surrender itself was August 14th (or the 15th if you were in Europe due to time zones).

That is true. But VJ Day is September 2. The following is from President Truman.

As President of the United States, I proclaim Sunday, September the second, 1945, to be V-J Day--the day of formal surrender by Japan. It is not yet the day for the formal proclamation of the end of the war nor of the cessation of hostilities. But it is a day which we Americans shall always remember as a day of retribution--as we remember that other day, the day of infamy.

Sent from my iPhone

The US declared independence on July 2nd.
Do you celebrate Independence Day on the 2nd or on the 4th?

I celebrate it on whichever day the parade and fireworks are held. Which is usually a weekend, no matter what the actual date happens to be.

So do most people. However, that's really the point. I was pointing out a little tidbit of trivia. A "yup Sept. 2 is the official day the Japanese signed their surrender, and we celebrate it then. But DID YOU KNOW...that the date of the actual surrender was August 14?"

And instead of saying "well how about that, interesting!" someone decided it was worth arguing about.

The link in the original post stated that both days are called VJ Day.

The term has been applied to both of the days on which the initial announcement of Japan's surrender was made – 15 August 1945, in Japan, and because of time zone differences, 14 August 1945 (when it was announced in the United States and the rest of the Americas and Eastern Pacific Islands) – as well as to 2 September 1945, when the surrender document was signed, officially ending World War II.

Did you know - Rhode Island is now the only state that still recognizes V-J Day as a state holiday?

I did not! And they celebrate it on the second Monday in August. That way, it can't occur on the same day as Labor Day. But they call it Victory Day.

Here’s why Rhode Island is the only state that celebrates Victory Day

Yes, and May God Bless them all ! They have given us our freedom 💯⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!

It matters that we remember. When we remember is not nearly as important.

Thank you for taking your time to start this thread.

My Grandma (Mom’s Mom) lost her first-born son during the Japanese bombings of the US Navy ships@ the Alaskan Aleutian Islands. My sweet Grandma could never speak about Teddy without tears streaming down her cheeks so remembering is still very important to me too.

The human cost of our war was deeply real to everyone in my entire family.

My Dad’s sister married her young love just before he deployed to with the US army to the Korean War. Billy was killed by North Korea soon afterward.

Both of these young men would have been my uncles had they not died far too young.

My family’s sorrow was always near the surface so even speaking about the wars or hearing certain news reports would cause them to grieve. We learned to carefully respect them and, of course, we will never forget.

Freedom really isn’t FREE. It’s not just a saying.

Thank you to all who’ve served.

And we don't celebrate April 9th?

This is a real loss of our heritage. Failing to commemorate our important historical events means many will never have even a trivial understanding about what took place. I fear we may repeat history because of our failure to learn from it.

Had to google that.

Either National Winston Churchill Day or a civil war reference.

I assume the latter.

But Memorial Day was started to commemorate the civil war dead.

The April 25–26, 1866, memorial day events honoring Confederate and Union dead in the South was a step toward reconciliation that reverberated nationwide, though it was predictably uncomfortable for some northerners.