Which British admiral signed Japan’s Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the United Kingdom in 1945?

Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser signed Japan’s Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the United Kingdom in 1945.

Fraser signed the document at about 9:14 a.m. Japan Standard Time on September 2, 1945. The ceremony took place on the deck of the U.S. battleship USS Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay, with representatives of Japan and the Allied powers present.

He represented Britain after General Douglas MacArthur signed for the Allied powers and Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz signed for the United States. Other Allied representatives followed, including officials from China, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.

Fraser was a senior Royal Navy commander who had led the British Pacific Fleet during the final phase of the war. He is sometimes confused with other prominent British admirals of World War II, but the British signatory at the Japanese ceremony was specifically Fraser, later known as the 1st Baron Fraser of North Cape. His signature helped record Britain’s role in the formal end of the Pacific War.