Source: FMHA
On Tuesday September 2nd, 2025 at 10:00 AM, FMHA will conduct its ninth Victory over Japan commemoration ceremony outside the Fort Miles Museum under the shadow of its USS Missouri gun display. This annual ceremony at Fort Miles, in Cape Henlopen State Park, celebrates the official end to World War II and honors the 774 Delaware members of the Armed Forces and Merchant Marines who died while serving their country during that war. The ceremony includes an account of the day of the surrender as well as a reading of General MacArthur’s speech. Near the conclusion of the ceremony, FMHA volunteers will read the names of 50 of those Delawareans while tolling a ships bell after each name is read. Each of this year’s 50 honoree’s name, rank, branch of service, and hometown is read as well as the date and location of his passing. After the last name is read, the VFW 7234 Honor Guard will deliver a rifle salute to the departed heroes followed by the playing of taps. Air Force veteran Lani Spahr will conclude the ceremony by playing “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes.
World War II was the deadliest military conflict in history. It began with the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939. The United States entered the war in 1941 after the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor on December 7. The war ended in 1945 following the German surrender in May and the Japanese surrender in September. Worldwide, an estimated total of 70-85 million military personnel and civilians perished during the war. Most deaths were a direct result of military engagement, but many died from war-related disease and starvation. United States casualties included 403,316 military personnel killed in action and another 671,278 wounded. The Merchant Marines suffered the highest death rate among all U.S. service organizations, losing 9,521 personnel or 1 in 26 of all crew members.
On the morning of September 2, 1945, nearly four years after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Allied and Japanese delegations met aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay for the formal signing of the surrender documents, thereby ending World II. After finishing an eloquent introductory statement, General Douglas MacArthur directed the representatives of Japan to sign the two instruments of surrender, one each for the Allied and Japanese governments. They were followed by representatives of the United States, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. As the surrender ceremonies concluded, 450 carrier planes from the U.S. Navy’s Third Fleet passed in massed formation over the Missouri. A few minutes later, Army Air Forces B-29 bombers flew by. This noisily impressive demonstration underscored the power that had brought Japan and the Allies to this time and place.
USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945
As in past years, the 2025 ceremony will take place by the 16” gun display outside the north entrance of the Fort Miles Museum. This display includes the 120-ton, 66-foot center barrel from the forward turret of the USS Missouri when General MacArthur accepted the Japanese surrender. FMHA acquired the barrel, test stand, and other gun components from the U.S. Navy in 2012. After four years of fundraising, site preparation, and artifact restoration this historic display was dedicated on VJ Day in 2016. Along with its battleship USS Arizona “Oil Still Bleeds” exhibit in the Battery 519 North Gun Room, the Fort Miles Museum can boast as being one of only three sites in the United States that have artifacts bookending the United States participation in World War II.
USS Missouri gun display outside entrance to the Fort Miles Museum
This year’s ceremony also will feature a tribute to three WWII veterans who are attending the ceremony as special invited guests of FMHA. They are Sgt. George McCarthy, who served with the Army Air Corps in the China-Burma-India theater while stationed in Kunming, China; John A. Reichert, who was a Navy Aviation Machinist’s Mate and Flight Engineer on Martin PBM-5 Mariner aircraft flying off the U.S. Atlantic Coast and in the Pacific Theatre; and Gunners Mate 1/C Raymond Sproul, who served on a Navy submarine chaser in the Atlantic and on the battleship USS Iowa after the war.
FMHA is pleased to welcome these three World War II veterans to our VJ Day ceremony celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Japanese surrender and we are honored by their presence. Following the 10:00 AM ceremony, the Fort Miles Museum will be open to the public from 11:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. with docent-led guided tours at 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. There is no entrance fee to the museum and guided tours are $6.00 per person. Military veterans and active-duty military personnel are not charged a fee to go on a guided tour.
For more information on Fort Miles Museum and Historical Area, go to: www.fortmilesmuseum.org
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Fort Miles Museum and Historical Area integrates the presentation of a critical period in United States’ history with personal stories of defending our nation’s coastline. Educational programming and exhibits enable visitors to reflect on community life within the broader context of America’s central military mission to defend our country.
