Qualla: Japanese Instrument of Surrender: Twenty Minutes on the Missouri

Japanese Instrument of Surrender: Twenty Minutes on the Missouri: Introduction

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit User:MartinRe, CC BY-SA 3.0. MacArthur used six pens to sign his name. He gave the first to General Jonathan Wainwright, who had surrendered the Philippines and spent three years in a Japanese prison camp. He gave the second to Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival, who had surrendered Singapore. A bright red Parker pen went to his wife. After the British signatory, Admiral Bruce Fraser, tried to give away two of MacArthur's black Waterman pens as souvenirs, MacArthur's aides promptly retrieved them. General Jimmy Doolittle, watching from the crowd, whispered to those around him: "I see the British are still lend-leasing our equipment." It was September 2, 1945, on the deck of the USS Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay. The most devastating war in history was ending with pen strokes, small dramas of protocol, and the occasional flash of dark humor.

Image: User:MartinRe | CC BY-SA 3.0

Japanese Instrument of Surrender: Twenty Minutes on the Missouri: Parchment from a Manila Monastery

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Army Signal Corps photographer LT. Stephen E. Korpanty; restored by Adam Cuerden, Public domain. Preparing the actual document fell to General Douglas MacArthur's staff in war-torn Manila, led by Colonel LeGrande A. Diller. Resources were scarce, but an enterprising staff member discovered rare parchment in the basement of a monastery, and the printer went to work. The diplo...

Image: Army Signal Corps photographer LT. Stephen E. Korpanty; restored by Adam Cuerden | Public domain

Japanese Instrument of Surrender: Twenty Minutes on the Missouri: Sixteen Minutes of Ink

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit United States War Department[2][3], Public domain. At 9:04 a.m., Shigemitsu signed for the Japanese government. At 9:06, General Umezu signed on behalf of Imperial General Headquarters. Then came the Allied signatures in rapid succession: Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz for the United States at 9:12, followed by representatives of C...

Image: United States War Department[2][3] | Public domain

Japanese Instrument of Surrender: Twenty Minutes on the Missouri: A Pen for Every Wound

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit United States War Department[2][3], Public domain. The pens scattered across the world like relics from a new kind of altar. Wainwright's went to the West Point Museum. Percival's ended up at the Cheshire Military Museum in England. One of Nimitz's two pens had belonged to his Chinese neighbor and close friend, and it traveled to...

Image: United States War Department[2][3] | Public domain

Japanese Instrument of Surrender: Twenty Minutes on the Missouri: The Documents Disperse

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit United States War Department[2], Public domain. Four days after the ceremony, Colonel Bernard Theilen flew the Allied copy of the Instrument to Washington, D.C., along with a copy of Emperor Hirohito's August 15 surrender rescript and the full powers credentials for Shigemitsu and Umezu, all stamped with the State Seal of Japa...

Image: United States War Department[2] | Public domain

Japanese Instrument of Surrender: Twenty Minutes on the Missouri: Still Waters in Tokyo Bay

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit United States War Department[2][3], Public domain. The bay where the Missouri anchored on that September morning remains one of the busiest waterways in Japan, ringed by the sprawl of Yokohama and Tokyo. The exact coordinates -- 35.35 degrees north, 139.76 degrees east -- place the signing somewhere in the waters between Yokohama...

Image: United States War Department[2][3] | Public domain