A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE JAPANESE SURRENDER ABOARD THE USS MISSOURI SIGNED BY ADM. CHESTER W. NIMITZ
Early on the morning of Sunday September 2 1945 aboard the new 45 000-ton battleship U.S.S. MISSOURI and before representatives of nine Allied nations the Japanese signed their unconditional surrender. Ten signatures of Allied representative were affixed to the historic document among them that of Admiral CHESTER W. NIMITZ signing for the United States. Offered here is a large photograph of Nimitz signing the surrender document as Gen. Douglas MacArthur and the other Allied representatives and American naval officers look on. Nimitz has inscribed the 11 x 14 inch (overall) photograph on the white bottom margin: “To Phil Skiff – PHC – With best wishes C. W. Nimitz Fleet Admiral U.S. Navy”. Fine condition. CHESTER W. NIMITZ (1885-1966) played a major role in World War II as Commander in Chief U.S. Pacific Fleet and Commander in Chief Pacific Ocean Areas commanding Allied air land and sea forces. Ten days after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 1941 Nimitz was selected by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to be commander-in-chief United States Pacific Fleet. He would command with eminent distinction through every phase of the war in the South Pacific.