Which Canadian colonel accidentally signed below his designated line on Japan’s surrender document?

Canadian Colonel Lawrence Moore Cosgrave accidentally signed below his designated line on Japan’s surrender document.

Cosgrave represented Canada at the surrender ceremony aboard USS Missouri on September 2, 1945. Because he was blind in one eye after a World War I injury, he misread the layout and signed beneath the line intended for Canada rather than directly on it.

The error affected the Japanese copy of the document. General Richard K. Sutherland, representing the Allied command, corrected the printed headings by crossing them out and rewriting the country titles in their proper positions. He initialed each alteration, allowing the document to remain valid and acceptable.

The incident is a small but memorable detail from an otherwise carefully choreographed ceremony. It is sometimes incorrectly attributed to another Allied representative or described as a Japanese signing mistake. The signatory was Cosgrave, a Canadian Army colonel who had served in both world wars.