Nine Allied governments were represented by signatories at Japan’s surrender ceremony aboard USS Missouri.
The Allied signatories represented the United States, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. General Douglas MacArthur signed for the Allied powers before the national representatives added their signatures.
The ceremony therefore included more than the United States and Japan, even though American forces supplied most of the visible setting and naval presence. Each government’s representative signed in a designated sequence after MacArthur and U.S. Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz.
The list also explains why photographs of the ceremony show a long line of officials behind the table. The representatives came from countries that had fought Japan directly or were participating in the Allied victory. A frequent error is counting MacArthur as a tenth Allied national representative; he signed in his multinational role as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, not as a separate government representative.