Pages tagged with: vj day

Hear former merchant seaman Jim Blundell describe VJ Day celebrations

After over five years of rationing and anxiety about loved ones overseas, New Zealanders greeted the coming of peace in Europe in May 1945, and then victory over Japan in August, with understandable relief and enthusiasm.

VJ Day, like VE Day, showed public regulation at work. Again the preparation had been considerable, and this time celebrations went more smoothly

Young people singing in the streets of Wellington, VJ Day, 1945

An unidentified seaman celebrates VJ Day with a cigarette and beer in Wellington, 1945

Hear live broadcasts from the streets of Dunedin on VJ Day.

John Allingham describes the signing of the Japanese surrender, 1945.