# When Did WWII End...?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-wwii-end/170812>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 24, 2003, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-wwii-end/170812 "2003-04-24T07:26:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-wwii-end/170812/1 "2003-04-24T07:26:08Z")

</div>

Is there documentation about Japanese soldiers stationed on islands in the Pacific who did not know that WWII had ended? If so, how long after V-J Day did WWII end? - Jinx

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-wwii-end/170812/2 "2003-04-24T07:46:26Z")

</div>

If you want to nitpick, there never was a peace treaty signed between Russia and Japan, and there are still unresolved issues about the Kurile Islands between those two countries. This is much more significant than the couple of incommunicado Japanese soldiers foraging for decades on jungle islands. (For that matter, a splinter group of Confederates went to Brazil rather than surrender to the Union, although they’re pretty assimilated now.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-wwii-end/170812/3 "2003-04-24T07:53:53Z")

</div>

The word according to Cecil: [Did some Japanese soldiers hold out for years after WWII?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000310.html)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-wwii-end/170812/4 "2003-04-24T10:59:50Z")

</div>

I suppose WWII ended, for all intents and purposes, when the treaty was signed aboard the USS _Missouri_. The formal cessation of hostilties between the US and Japan pretty much ended the hot war, IIRC, longstanding political grudges notwithstanding.