The Japanese garrison on Wake Island formally surrendered on 4 September 1945.
Wake Island is a remote atoll in the central Pacific that Japan captured from the United States in December 1941. Its defenders and civilians endured the occupation throughout the war, while the island remained isolated from the main Allied advances across the Pacific.
Although Japan announced its surrender in August and signed the formal Instrument of Surrender on 2 September, Japanese forces in many outlying areas still had to receive orders and conduct local ceremonies. Wake Island’s surrender followed two days after the Tokyo Bay signing.
The date illustrates why the end of World War II was a process rather than a single moment everywhere. Local garrisons surrendered on different dates across Asia and the Pacific. Other ceremonies occurred later in China, Korea, Southeast Asia, and the former Japanese-occupied islands.