"... Peace Be Now Restored"

On the decks of the giant U.S. battleship Missouri the brief, fevered course of Japan as a great power came to a quiet end.

After Perry's two steamships and two sloops of war opened Japan to the world, the feudal Japanese learned fast from the West. But their lesson was one-sided, their rise deceptively easy. First, they beat the Chinese, and then they drubbed the Russians. They got in on the right side in World War I. They grabbed Manchuria, and in 1937 they again attacked China, hoping to dominate all Asia. Just after Pearl Harbor, Japan careened to its highest point.

On the Missouri nearsighted little men in anachronistic top hats and clawhammer coats dully accepted defeat. Japan would have to start all over again.

A correspondent, staring at the scene from the Missouri's No. 2 turret, whispered: "I don't know what they're going to call this; I hope it won't be the 'Missouri Compromise.' " But there was no element of compromise in the surrender document, or in the ceremony.

TIME Correspondent Theodore H. White cabled:

"The veranda deck of the slate-grey battleship shone with the color of red-striped Russians, red-ribboned Britons, olive-drab Chinese, and row upon row of khaki-clad American admirals and generals.

"The Japanese had been piped aboard four minutes before MacArthur made his appearance. The first aboard was the silk-hatted Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu, limping on his wooden leg, leaning on his cane and clutching at the ship's ropes as he pulled himself up the stairway. The second was the dour, solemn-faced Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Yoshijiro Umezu--his chest covered with ribbons and hung with gold braid, his eyes blank and unseeing.

"Complete silence greeted them as they ascended the deck. The American generals watched them come to attention in their designated places with varying degrees of emotion. Stilwell bristled like a dog at the sight of an enemy. Spaatz' chiseled face lines were sharp in contempt. Kenney curled his lips in a visible sneer.

"MacArthur stepped out from a cabin stood stiffly erect and began reading with all the mellifluous, sonorous qualities of his magnificent voice. The only sign of his emotion was the trembling of the hands in which he held his paper.

"As he closed the introductory remarks he half turned and faced the Japs with a piercing stare and said: 'I announce it my firm purpose ... to insure that the terms of surrender are fully, promptly and faithfully complied with.'

"Shigemitsu, doffing his silk hat and peeling a yellow glove from his right hand, limped forward to sign the document and was assisted to a chair. With a blank, expressionless face he composed himself and signed. Umezu followed. He slowly drew off his white gloves and, without sitting, bent his stocky body forward and affixed the authority of the Japanese Army to the acknowledgment of total defeat.

"It was Douglas MacArthur's show from beginning to end. At precisely 9:08 MacArthur stepped forward, removed a handful of fountain pens from his pocket. He started his signature, then handed the first pen to the gaunt soldier standing by his left shoulder. General Jonathan Wainwright saluted stiffly, accepted the pen, and stepped back. The next one went to Lieut. General Arthur E. Percival of Singapore.

"In almost unbroken silence the ship's crew assembled as witnesses and watched one delegate after another affix their signatures. Grey, overcast skies had hung over the ship all during the ceremony. As the New Zealand delegate stepped forward to sign his name as the last on the list, the skies parted and the sun shone bright through the clouds.

"MacArthur hesitated a moment after the final signature. Then he stepped forward and said slowly: 'Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.'

"He lifted his eyes from the script, faced the Japanese, and declared: 'These proceedings are closed.'

"The Japs clustered about and listened to the interpreter giving them their last instructions. [There was a moment of confusion while Lieut. General Richard K. Sutherland straightened out signatures on the Japanese copy of the surrender document. Colonel L. Moore Cosgrave, who signed for Canada, had written on the wrong line. So had the French, Dutch and New Zealand signers who followed him.] The orders were placed in their hands and the Americans curtly gave them the signal to leave. They turned and departed as they had come. The shrill bosun's pipe followed their steps over the side--Shigemitsu, tired and expressionless, limping on his cane as he went; Umezu, stony-faced and silent, lifting a white-gloved hand to acknowledge the salute of the guard at the gangway.

"As the Japs departed, grey skies closed In again on the grey ships, and there was a steady drone in the sky. The drone became a deafening roar, and a mass of U.S. planes swept over the ships--400 B-29s and 1,500 fleet carrier planes--in a final salute. Then it was quiet again. The ceremony--and the war--were over."

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