Aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan formally surrendered to the Allies, bringing an end to World War II.

By the summer of 1945, the defeat of Japan was a foregone
conclusion. The Japanese navy and air force were destroyed.

U.S. General Douglas MacArthur was put in charge of the invasion,
which was code-named “Operation Olympic” and set for November
1945.

Japan’s unconditional surrender to the Allies was made
public on V-J Day, or Victory over Japan Day, in an
official announcement on August 14, 1945. (Because
of time zone differences, it was August 15 in Japan.)

Japan formally surrendered in writing two weeks later,
on September 2.

The rising mushroom cloud over Nagasaki, a few minutes
after the nuclear bomb was detonated.

On August 9, 1945, a second atomic bomb was dropped on
Japan by the United States, this time at Nagasaki, resulting
in Japan’s unconditional surrender.

The devastation wrought at Hiroshima three days earlier was
not sufficient to convince the Japanese War Council to accept
the Potsdam Conference’s demand for unconditional surrender.

On August 7, 1942, the U.S. 1st Marine Division began Operation Watchtower, the first U.S. offensive of the war, by landing on Guadalcanal, one of the Solomon Islands.

Weeks earlier, the Japanese landed on Guadalcanal Island and
began constructing an airfield there.

Although the invasion came as a complete surprise to the
Japanese (bad weather had grounded their scouting aircraft),
the landings on Florida, Tulagi, Gavutu and Tananbogo met
much initial opposition from the Japanese defenders.

But the Americans who landed on Guadalcanal met little
resistance—at least at first.

More than 11,000 Marines had landed, and 24 hours had passed,
before the Japanese manning the garrison there knew of the
attack.

According to the recommendation for his medal, he
“contributed materially to the defeat and virtually the
annihilation of a Japanese regiment.”

On August 6, 1945, the United States became the first and
only nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime when
it dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of
Hiroshima.

At least another 60,000 would be dead by the end of the
year from the effects of the fallout.

Though the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan
marked the end of World War II, many historians
argue that it also ignited the Cold War.