Soldiers and sailors celebrate in Newark, NJ
After the surrender of Japan on 14 August 1945, two days of national holiday were announced for celebrations in the UK, the US and Australia.
Millions of people from the Allied countries took part in parades and street parties.
Germany had surrendered on 7 May 1945, followed by Victory in Europe (VE) Day on 8 May, but World War Two still continued in the Asia-Pacific region…
An estimated 71,000 soldiers from Britain and the Commonwealth were killed in the war against Japan, including more than 12,000 prisoners of war who died in Japanese captivity.
It wasn’t until the US had dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on 6 and 9 August, that Japan surrendered and ended the war.
The recorded death tolls of the atomic bombings are estimates, but it is thought that about 140,000 of Hiroshima’s 350,000 population were killed in the blast, and at least 74,000 people died in Nagasaki.
It was sunny and warm in our Bridgeport neighborhood. VJ-day felt just like VE-day to kids – except that now the war was completely ended. We stopped playing war games that day – though our politicians never have.
Eideard 
Photo credit: “A white soldier and an African American soldier hug while being lifted onto the shoulders of a mixed race crowd in Newark, New Jersey.” (Afro American Newspapers / Gado / Getty Images) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/looking-back-v-j-day-75-years-later-180975555/
“How many people died at Hiroshima and Nagasaki?” http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2020/08/04/how-many-people-died-at-hiroshima-and-nagasaki/
“Counting the dead at Hiroshima and Nagasaki” (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists) https://thebulletin.org/2020/08/counting-the-dead-at-hiroshima-and-nagasaki/