HONOLULU (Kyodo) Gathered on a battleship in Pearl Harbor, some 800 veterans on Thursday marked the 65th anniversary of Japan's formal surrender ending World War II.
"All great leaders know the mightiest undertakings succeed because of the strength and courage, determination and sacrifice, of men and women whose names will never be recorded in history books or memorialized in museums," said U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, a retired U.S. Army four-star general and third-generation Japanese-American born in Hawaii.
Yoshihiko Kamo, consul general of Japan in Honolulu, and Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, who lost an arm fighting in the war and is a second-generation Japanese-American, were among those commemorating the day.
The ceremony took place aboard the USS Missouri, which is now anchored at the harbor as a museum. Japan signed surrender documents on the dreadnought on Sept. 2, 1945, when it was anchored in Tokyo Bay.