U.S. and Japanese flags fly at half-staff outside the 374th Airlift Wing headquarters at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (Joseph Ditzler/Stars and Stripes)

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — The Japanese and American flags flew at half-staff at the U.S. Forces Japan base Thursday to commemorate the 79th anniversary of the end of World War II in the Pacific.

On August 15, 1945, Japanese Emperor Hirohito addressed the Japanese public for the first time, announcing on Tokyo Radio that their country’s armed forces had finally surrendered to the Allies. He avoided the word surrender.

This day is celebrated by the former allies as VJ Day or “Victory in Japan.” In the USA, the date was August 14th.

The Japanese government ordered the country’s flags to be flown at half-mast to mark the day. Yokota also ordered the US flags to be lowered in solidarity.

The war officially ended on September 2, 1945 with the signing of the surrender documents aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay at a ceremony presided over by the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, US General Douglas MacArthur.

The war in the Pacific lasted three years, eight months, three weeks and five days. The larger war in Asia claimed the lives of around 36 million people.

The United States and Japan, once bitter enemies, quickly became allies bound by a mutual defense pact, and have recently grown even closer as both sides perceive the growing military power of communist China as a threat.