Australian Minister Celebrates Victory in the Pacific Day (VP)

An Australian minister celebrated Victory in the Pacific Day (VP) Day in order to remind the public about the day on which the Second World War was ended with victory in the pacific.

VP (Victory in the Pacific) Day, also referred to as VJ (Victory over Japan) Day, is celebrated on Aug. 15 to commemorate Japan’s acceptance of the Allied demand for unconditional surrender on Aug. 14, 1945.

“For Australians it meant that Second World War had ended,” says an introduction to the website Australian War Memorial. “In August 1945 Australian governments gazetted a public holiday as VP Day, and most newspapers reported it as such.”

“Seventy seven years ago today, war ended in Pacific with Japan signing their unconditional surrender to Allies. This officially brought an end to World War II,” states Matt Keogh, Minister for Veterans Affairs, Aug. 15.

Prime Minister Ben Chifley announcing the end of the war against Japan 15 August 1945. [V-P Announcement: Segment No. 179490 in Prime Ministers of Australia: A Compilation of Speeches and Interviews. Screensound Australia, National Screen and Sound Collection, Screensound Title No: 214438]

By the beginning of 1945, Australians had been at war for more than five years. Nearly one million Australians served during the war, around 40,000 died, and many thousands more were injured in their military service.

“On Victory in the Pacific Day, we pause to commemorate the more than 17,000 Australians who lost their lives in the war against Japan,” Keogh said.

“We recall our brave efforts at the Australian home front in Malaya and Singapore, Papua New Guinea, Borneo and other parts of the southwest Pacific over those three years .”

While the Germans surrendered on May 7, 1945, just a week after the death of Adolf Hitler, Japan fought on in the Pacific for another three months and did not surrender until the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

” The threat of invading forces seemed real to Keogh. It was an era when Australians worked hard, and came together to defend their country .”

” On this day, I urge all Australians remember the bravery and sacrifice made by those who served in the Second World War .”

Minister Keogh attended commemorations in Malaysia, recognising Sandakan Memorial Day on Aug. 15. In Malaysia, Sandakan Memorial Day is acknowledged on the same date as VP Day, commemorating the prisoners of war and local civilians who died during the Japanese occupation of British Borneo.