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Victory (8 May 1945/15 August 1945)

Three work mates celebrating the end of the war. Miss Lois Martin is wearing a knitted the red, white and blue vest especially for VP day, she is also is holding a hand cranked siren and her friends are waving Australian flags.

VP Day, Sydney. [AWM P02018.226]

Fellow citizens, the war is over.

The Japanese Government has accepted the terms of surrender imposed by the Allied Nations and hostilities will now cease. The reply by the Japanese Government to the note sent by Britain, the United States, the USSR and China, has been received and accepted by the Allied Nations.

At this moment let us offer thanks to God.

Let us remember those whose lives were given that we may enjoy this glorious moment and may look forward to a peace which they have won for us.

Prime Minister Ben Chifley announcing the end of the war against Japan, 15 August 1945. [V-P Announcement: Segment No. 179490 in Prime Ministers of Australia: A Compilation of Speeches and Interviews. Screensound Australia, National Screen and Sound Collection, Screensound Title No: 214438]

By the beginning of 1945 Australians had been at war for over five years. Now they believed that the Allies would be victorious and that both the war in Europe and the war with Japan would end. In Europe, the Germans surrendered on 7 May, just a week after the death of Adolf Hitler. Australian prisoners of war in European prison camps were liberated and Australian sailors and aircrew began returning home.

Crews of 463 and 467 Squadrons RAAF celebrate VE Day (Victory in Europe) in their mess, RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, England, 8 May 1945. In centre of image a crewman is kissing a young lady whist holding newspaper with headline 'VE-DAY - ITS' ALL OVER'
On board HMT Highland Chieftain a group of limbless prisoners of war, all with crutches arrive in Darwin from Japanese prison camps.
Mrs Daisy Owen, widow of Lieutenant Colonel William Taylor Owen and Mrs Walker, mother of Lieutenant Ian Walker, in the grounds of the 4th American General Hospital, Melbourne on 3 June 1943, both women are wearing coats and hats
Australian naval ratings joy-riding around the Yokosuka Naval Base in a small Japanese truck after the Japanese surrender
Portraits of Mrs Jessie Vasey and Major-General George Vasey
Mr J C Appleton an amputee who survived the attack on HMAS Canberra in August 1942, uses a lathe to turn out hooks for himself and other arm amputees at the Repatriation Commission’s artificial limb factory
Poster for Legacy. Incudes flaming torch symbol representative of legacy and wording 'Legacy Cares ... they know after the war comes the battle...'
Members of Private Frank Gage’s platoon firing the salute during his funeral service on 15 August 1945
Standing on the deck of the SS Taiping are Mr Les Oates and his Japanese wife, Tsuyako, Mr John Cook and his Japanese wife, Sasayo
Mrs R Scott talks to a classroom of war brides at Australia's first school for war brides.

Three months later, devastated by Allied bombing and the threat of invasion, Japan surrendered. On 6 and 9 August, American bombers had dropped atomic bombs on two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively. The Japanese ceased fighting a week later on 15 August 1945 and on 2 September 1945 formally surrendered to the Allies in a ceremony on the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Other surrenders of Japanese armies in the field took place across Asia and the Pacific. Thousands of servicemen and women now began returning home and surviving prisoners of war were released and repatriated.

Almost one million Australians served in World War II: about 40,000 of them had died and many thousands more were wounded or injured in the course of their military service. With the war's end hundreds of thousands of servicemen and women had to adjust to life as civilians. The women who had played such a vital role during wartime were now expected to return to their homes to become wives and mothers again. For many Australians, the years ahead would be challenging.

On 2 April 1943, Jennifer Purtell (7 years) and Maxwell Reece (12 years) wearing their father’s Distinguished Service Medals
Etched glass panels on the Australian Service Nurses National Memorial in Canberra. The etched panels on the two glass walls display a timeline sequence of images and events, a collage of historical photographs and extracts from diaries and letters
Mrs Lucy Lane at the grave of Sister Marie Craig, Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service, Bomana War Cemetery, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, 12 September 2005
This memorial on the site of the former Mort’s Dock and Engineering Company Limited is dedicated to both the crew members of the corvettes in ‘recognition of the ships’ proud contribution to the nations’ war effort’ and to the Australian workmen
Mr Eddie Richards takes a moment to remember Captain Graham Anderson, 2/23rd Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, El Alamein War Cemetery, Egypt, 19 October 2002
The Merchant Navy Memorial consists of seven columns, a dias, concrete drums and a flagpole. The central granit column symbolises the 'Remembrance'. The six flanking columns sybolise the bows of ships.
The centrepiece at the Kokoda Track Walkway are granite walls bearing photographic images of the Kokoda campaign. There are 22 audio-visual stations along the Walkway. The Walkway has been planted with lush tropical vegetation.
The memorial cairn on the edge of the runway at Truscott Airfield, Anjo Peninsula, Western Australia. Sandstone wall with seven plaques of various sizes embeded. In the background can be seen a windsock and runway markers.
The flame-bearers at the 2004 Len Hall game. Officials of the games form guard of honour. in the background can be seen the grandstands on top of which are two enormous white anchor replicas and the large visual display screen
A yellow flowering hibiscus especially developed to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II.

Headshot of Lawrence Saywell
Lawrence Saywell [AWM P02551]

 

Czech Military Cross - gold cross with crossed swords in the centre on a red, white and blue thin stripped ribbon
Czech Military Cross. [AWM32261]

Death on VE Day

Private Lawrence Saywell died on 8 May 1945, the last Australian to die in the war in Europe. Captured in Crete in 1941, he escaped from a prisoner of war camp in Bohemia in January 1945 and joined a Czech resistance group. Saywell fought with the partisans against the Germans for four months but on the day the war ended, he was shot and badly wounded by a retreating German soldier near the village of Miretin (now in the Czech republic). He died of his wounds. Saywell was awarded the Czech Military Cross, which is now in the Australian War Memorial collection.

Related content

People celebrating VP Day at the Australian War Memorial in Augsut 1945, with flags flying, and Mount Ainslie in the background. Two 1940s cars in the foreground. In the left foreground a returned soldier stands next to his wife holding their baby.

VP Day, Canberra, Harold Abbot, 1945.

[Oil on canvas on board 45.4 x 60.8 cm, AWM ART22923]

Autographed photo of Prime Minister John Curtin and Treasurer Ben Chifley walking on road together. Ben Chifley is smoking a pipe.

Prime Minister John Curtin and Treasurer Ben Chifley, who became the new Prime Minister of Australia after John Curtin’s death.

Prime Minister John Curtin did not survive until the end of the war with Japan. He battled ill health during the war years and died on 5 July 1945. Treasurer Ben Chifley became the new Prime Minister of Australia after John Curtin’s death and remained in office until the defeat of the Australain Labor Party at the federal election of 10 December 1949.

[NAA A1200, L26035]

'The war is over' victory speech

Chifley victory speech transcript

Fellow citizens, the war is over. 

The Japanese Government has accepted the terms of surrender imposed by the Allied Nations and hostilities will now cease. The reply by the Japanese Government to the Note sent by Britain, the United States, the USSR and China, has been received and accepted by the Allied Nations.

At this moment let us offer thanks to God.

 Let us remember those whose lives were given that we may enjoy this glorious moment and may look forward to a peace which they have won for us.Let us remember those whose thoughts, with proud sorrow, turn towards gallant, loved ones who will not come back. On behalf of the people and the Government of Australia I offer humble thanks to the fighting men of the United Nations whose gallantry, sacrifice and devotion to duty have brought us to victory.  Nothing can fully repay the debt we owe them nor can history record in adequate terms their deeds from the black days that followed September 1939 and December 1941, until this moment. 

We owe, too, a great debt to those men and women who performed miracles of production, in secondary and primary industries so that the battle of supply could be won and a massive effort achieved. Materials, money and resources have been poured out so that the fighting men would not go short.  Australia’s part, comparatively, in terms of fighting forces and supplies, ranks high and the Australian people may be justly proud of everything they have done.

I am sure that you would like me to convey to the commanders of the fighting forces the warmest thanks for their skill, efficiency and great devotion.  Especially do I mention General Douglas MacArthur with whom we have so much in common and with whom we shared the dangers when Australia was threatened with invasion.

In your name I offer to the leaders of the United Nations our congratulations and thanks.  We join with the United States in a common regret that their inspiring leader, the late Mr Roosevelt did not live to see this day.   We thank his successor, President Truman, for the work he has done. Australians too will feel their happiness tinged with sorrow that another man who gave his all was not spared to be with us today, that man was John Curtin. To Mr Churchill, Generalissimo Stalin and Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek go the unstinted thanks of free people everywhere for what they have done for the common cause.  Especially do we honour Mr Churchill, with whom in the dark days - to use his own words - we had the honour to stand alone against aggression.

And now our men and women will come home; our fighting men with battle honours thick upon them from every theatre of war.  Australians stopped the Japanese in their drive south, just as they helped start the first march towards ultimate victory in North Africa. Australians fought in the battles of the air everywhere and Australian seamen covered every ocean. They are coming home to a peace, which has to be won.  The United Nations charter for a world organisation is the hope of the world and Australia has pledged the same activity in making it successful as she showed in the framing of it.

Here in Australia there is much to be done.  The Australian Government, which stood steadfast during the dread days of the war, will give all that it has to working and planning to ensure that the peace will be a real thing. I ask that the State governments and all sections of the community should co-operate in facing the task and solving the problems that are ahead. Let us join together in the march of our nation to future greatness.

You are aware of what has been arranged for the celebration of this great victory and deliverance, and in the name of the Commonwealth Government, I invite you to join in the thanksgiving services arranged for, truly,this is a time to give thanks to God, and to those men against whose sacrifice for us there is no comparison.

Good day to you fellow citizens.

Prime Minister Ben Chifley announcing the end of the war against Japan, 15 August 1945. [V-P Announcement: Segment No. 179490 in Prime Ministers of Australia: A Compilation of speeches and interviews. Screensound Australia, National Screen and Sound Collection, Screensound Title No: 214438]

VE Day service. [AWM F01439]

A thanksgiving service to commemorate the end of the war in Europe was held at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on 9 May 1945. The service was attended by the Governor-General of Australia, his Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester, and the Duchess of Gloucester, representatives from Allied embassies, the Australian War Memorial, clergymen and the general public.