Dr Brendan Nelson AO, Former Director of the Australian War Memorial / former Australian Ambassador to Belgium, the European Union & NATO (2010–12), on the 75th anniversary of the day that Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end.

A little after noon Japan Standard Time on August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito’s announcement of Japan’s acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration was broadcast to the Japanese people over the radio.

Earlier the same day, the Japanese government had broadcast an announcement over Radio Tokyo that “acceptance of the Potsdam Proclamation [would be] coming soon”, and had advised the Allies of the surrender by sending a cable to U.S. President Harry S Truman via the Swiss diplomatic mission in Washington, D.C.

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