Which earlier U.S. expedition’s flag was displayed at Japan’s 1945 surrender?

Matthew Perry’s expedition supplied the flag displayed at Japan’s 1945 surrender.

A U.S. flag associated with Commodore Matthew Perry’s 1853–1854 expedition to Japan was displayed aboard USS Missouri during the surrender ceremony. Perry commanded the U.S. Navy’s Far East Squadron, whose expedition pressured Japan to open its ports to American trade.

The display created a deliberate historical connection between the two events. Perry’s expedition had helped begin a new era of U.S.-Japan relations, while the 1945 ceremony marked Japan’s defeat and the beginning of the Allied occupation.

The flag is sometimes misidentified as one that flew over the U.S. Capitol during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Accounts from the Missouri’s crew indicate that the Perry flag was the historically significant flag displayed for the ceremony; another flag aboard the ship was an ordinary issue flag, not the Capitol flag.