In the United Kingdom 15 August 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of Victory over Japan (VJ) Day.

Following the dropping of atomic bombs by the United States on the cities of Hiroshima on 6 August and Nagasaki on 9 August, the Soviet Union’s declaration of war on Japan on 8 August and negotiations within the Japanese government Emperor Hirohito’s announcement of Japan’s surrender to the Allies on 15 August 1945 ended the Second World War.

The formal process of stopping hostilities however involved a series of meetings and events.

This photograph held within the RAF Museum’s Photograph collection shows Allied officers meeting a Japanese delegation at Mingaladon airfield near Rangoon, Burma, now known as Yangon, Myanmar on 26 August 1945.

Allied officers meeting Japanese delegation arriving for the Japanese surrender, Mingaladon, 26 August 1945 (RAF Museum P032505)

The Japanese officers were arriving to begin preliminary negotiations for the surrender of Japanese forces in South East Asia. The agreement signed in Yangon was a preliminary step.

The United States marks VJ Day as 2 September which was when Japan signed their formal document of surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

On 12 September 1945 Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Supreme Allied Commander of South East Asia Command received the formal act of surrender in Singapore. This ceremony ended the Japanese occupation of the island.