From the archive: Japan signs the terms of surrender –  3 September 1945

3 September 1945: With the signing on the USS Missouri, the second world war is now officially over. Full occupation of Japan is about to begin

The Japanese signed the terms of surrender in the American battleship Missouri early yesterday and the war is now officially over. The full occupation of Japan, however, is only just beginning.

Related: 'Deep remorse': Japanese emperor marks 75th anniversary of surrender

The guns are silent, a great tragedy has ended, a great victory has been won, the skies no longer rain death, the seas bear only commerce, men everywhere walk upright in the sunlight, the entire world lives quietly at peace.
The holy mission has been completed, and in reporting this to you the people, I speak for thousands of silent lips for ever stilled among jungles and beaches and in deep waters of the Pacific which marked the war. I speak for the unnamed brave millions who are homeward bound to take up the challenge of that future which they did so much to salvage from the brink of disaster. A new era is upon us.

Related: Editorial: War's end

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