President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) rolled out his military might on Tuesday, September 2, to celebrate the victory over Japan that ended World War II.
The 80th anniversary of that surrender, which took place on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay in 1945, went largely unnoticed by U.S. media, but it was General Douglas MacArthur, leader of the campaign in the Pacific, who accepted Japan’s surrender on that momentous day.
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Nowhere were there any Chinese officials on that historic occasion. However, China did play a large resistance role in WWII, and in fact, confronted the invading Japanese in 1937, long before the Empire of the Rising Sun attacked Pearl Harbor to initiate our country’s entry into WWII.
The Chinese continued to battle the Japanese until the end on September 2, 1945.
Which brings up the question: Why don’t we remember and commemorate a major event such as the surrender of Japan in 1945, and of Germany a year earlier? We seem to have brushed that war under the table as 9/11 — and terrorism — have now taken center stage.
It is worth noting and remembering, however, that there are a great many reasons that we recall the time of WWII as being peopled by our “Greatest Generation,” who fought and died for the freedom of people throughout the world.
We forget their sacrifice and devotion at our own peril.
N.B.: It wasn’t until September 1951 that an actual peace treaty was signed with Japan.