Chester Nimitz signed Japan’s surrender instrument immediately after MacArthur.
Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz signed for the United States during the ceremony aboard USS Missouri on September 2, 1945. General Douglas MacArthur had signed first as Supreme Commander for the Allied powers.
Nimitz was Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas during much of the war. He directed major naval operations against Japan, including the Battle of Midway and the Central Pacific advance.
After Nimitz signed, representatives of China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand signed in sequence. The ceremony therefore recorded both the general Allied acceptance of surrender and the participation of individual Allied governments.