In what later became known as Victory Day, an official
announcement of Japan’s unconditional surrender to
the Allies was made public to the world 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, 1945.

American servicemen and women in Paris celebrate V-J Day.

On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union officially declared war on
Japan, pouring more than 1 million Soviet soldiers the following
day into Japanese-occupied Manchuria, northeastern China, to
take on the 700,000-strong Japanese army.

On August 7, 1942, U.S. forces, primarily the 1st Marine
Division, launched Operation Watchtower, the first major
Allied offensive in the Pacific during World War II, by
landing on Guadalcanal.

This airfield, later named Henderson Field, became a
crucial strategic point in the Pacific campaign. The
invasion marked the beginning of the lengthy and
brutal Guadalcanal Campaign, a six-month struggle
for control of the island.

PT-109 was a US Navy patrol torpedo boat commanded by
Lieutenant (junior grade) John F. Kennedy during World War
II in the Solomon Islands.

His actions in rescuing his crew after the sinking earned him
a Navy and  Marine Corps Medal and contributed to his later
political career.             
         
        
   
     
       
         
     
       
        
       

PT-109, a film dramatizing this story, starring Cliff
Robertson as Kennedy, opened in 1963.

(FOX NEWS) – A team of researchers recently discovered a
historic bow that was blown off a World War II U.S. Navy
ship during a historic battle that took place nearly 83 years
ago.

The long-lost bow — which was torn off the USS New Orleans
in the Battle of Tassafaronga in November 1942 — was found
around 2,200 feet underwater in the Solomon Islands’ Iron
Bottom Sound, according to a news release from the Ocean
Exploration Trust.

The bow of USS New Orleans sits on the seafloor of Iron
Bottom Sound in the Solomon Islands.

The structure and stamps on the base of the anchor helped researchers confirm the identity of the bow.