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30-638: Soon after the evacuation from the Dutch East Indies, a Dutch intelligence service was set up in Australia on the instructions of the Dutch Commander of the forces in the East, Conrad Helfrich . NEFIS I gathered reports, maps, publications and photos on the Dutch East Indies. On the basis of this information, monthly summaries were issued on the situation in the archipelago. NEFIS II was responsible for censoring

60-664: A division responsible for gathering information on the enemy and carrying out sabotage operations. The Dutch section of the former ISD was incorporated into this division. The Dutch section carried out various operations in enemy territory. NEFIS was not given the task of sending agents on assignments until after the AIB had been reorganised in April 1943. A new division, NEFIS III, was created for this purpose in May 1943. It sent secret agents into occupied territory by submarine or plane to gather intelligence on

90-585: A formal White House ceremony the following day. Following a ceremony led by Gen. Jonathan Wainwright , the documents were then exhibited at the National Archives . On October 1, 1945, the documents were formally received (accessioned) into the holdings of the National Archives. The deck of the Missouri was furnished with two U.S. flags . A commonly heard story is that one of the flags had flown over

120-828: Is at the Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in Tokyo, and was last publicly displayed in 2015, as part of an exhibition marking the 70th anniversary of the signing. A replica version of the Japanese copy can be viewed at the archive's gallery, and at the Edo-Tokyo Museum in Tokyo . Gen. MacArthur originally had 11 full-sized facsimiles made of the Instrument of Surrender, but later increased this for distribution among

150-414: Is displayed backward —  reverse side showing (stars in the upper right corner). This was because U.S. flags on the right of an object, plane, ship, or person have the stars on the upper right corner, to look like the flag is heading into battle —  as if attached to a pole and someone is carrying it. Stars in the upper left of a flag displayed on the right side of the object could make

180-483: Is sometimes known as Victory over Japan Day . However, that designation more frequently refers to the date of Emperor Hirohito 's Gyokuon-hōsō (Imperial Rescript of Surrender), the radio broadcast announcement of the acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration at noon Japan Standard Time on 15 August. General Douglas MacArthur 's staff, headed by Colonel LeGrande A. Diller , were tasked to prepare

210-700: Is still on display at the Naval Academy Museum, as is the table and tablecloth upon which the instrument of surrender was signed, and the original bronze plaque marking the location of the signing (which was replaced by two replicas in 1990). The Japanese copy of the treaty varied from the Allied in the following ways: The Allied copy of the Instrument is at the United States National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. The Japanese copy

240-567: The Netherlands East Indies in October 1939. At the outbreak of the war in the Pacific he gave instructions to wage war aggressively. His small force of submarines sank more Japanese ships in the first weeks of the war than the entire British and US navies together, an exploit which earned him the nickname "Ship-a-day Helfrich". Admiral Helfrich worked tirelessly to establish co-operation with

270-949: The Republic of China , the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland , the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , the Commonwealth of Australia , the Dominion of Canada , the Provisional Government of the French Republic , the Kingdom of the Netherlands , and the Dominion of New Zealand . The signing took place on the deck of USS  Missouri in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945. The date

300-785: The Virtuti Militari (Poland). He had also received the Expedition Cross . Japanese Instrument of Surrender The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was the written agreement that formalized the surrender of the Empire of Japan , marking the end of hostilities in World War II . It was signed by representatives from the Empire of Japan and from the Allied nations : the United States of America ,

330-757: The White House on the day Pearl Harbor was attacked . However, Captain Stuart Murray of USS Missouri explained: At eight o'clock we had hoisted a clean set of colors at the mainmast and a clean jack of the United States at the bow as we were at anchor, and I would like to add that these were just regular ship's flags, GI issue, that we'd pulled out of the spares, nothing special about them, and they had never been used anywhere so far as we know, at least they were clean and we had probably gotten them in Guam in May. So there

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360-602: The Allied nations present during the signing. Two of the copies which were given to Col. LeGrande A. Diller and MGen. Basilio Valdes for the Philippines are now displayed at The International Museum of World War II in Natick, Massachusetts . As witnesses, American general Jonathan Wainwright , who had surrendered the Philippines , and British lieutenant-general Arthur Percival , who had surrendered Singapore , received two of

390-716: The Allied navies in the area since he knew that the Dutch could not hope to protect the Dutch East Indies by themselves. When a combined command ( ABDA ) was finally created in January 1942, he was bypassed for the post of commander of the navy, in favour of Admiral Thomas C. Hart of the United States Navy . Helfrich's mission to defend Java at all costs clashed with Hart's desire to conserve as many naval units as possible. On 12 February 1942, Helfrich succeeded Hart as commander of

420-579: The American–British–Dutch–Australian naval forces in the Pacific and immediately went on the offensive. The courage of the "Striking Force" was to no avail in the face of the overwhelming superiority of the Japanese navy and after the disastrous Battle of the Java Sea , most of the ABDA ships under his command had been put out of action and ABDA itself was dismantled. Helfrich spent the remainder of

450-684: The Dutch forces in the Dutch East Indies until 24 January 1946 when the post of commander of the armed forces in the East was abolished. During that time, Commander Helfrich had to deal with the Indonesian struggle for independence . He was a fierce opponent of compromising with Sukarno and, supported by Chief of the General Staff Hendrik Johan Kruls, he objected to the Linggarjati Agreement of 15 December 1946, but without effect. He remained in command until his retirement from

480-598: The Dutch section of the ISD, sent 36 teams into enemy territory. Over 250 agents were involved in these operations, and 39 lost their lives. Conrad Helfrich Lieutenant Admiral Conrad Emil Lambert Helfrich (11 October 1886 – 20 September 1962) of the Royal Netherlands Navy was a leading Dutch naval figure of World War II . He was born in Semarang . Helfrich was appointed overall commander of all forces in

510-462: The ceremony as subordinates to its own. MacArthur supported the government of Australia's demand to attend and sign separately from the UK, although Australia objected to his recommendation that Canada, the Netherlands, and France also sign the document. On 6 September, Colonel Bernard Theilen took the document and an imperial rescript to Washington, D.C. , and presented them to President Harry S. Truman in

540-418: The door of my cabin, facing forward, on the surrender deck so that everyone on the surrender deck could see it. That special flag on the veranda deck of the Missouri had been flown from Commodore Matthew Perry 's flagship in 1853–54 when he led the U.S. Navy's Far East Squadron into Tokyo Bay to force the opening of Japan's ports to foreign trade. Photographs of the signing ceremony show that this flag

570-497: The draft of the Instrument of Surrender. This was a challenge given resources were limited in war-torn Manila . Nevertheless, an enterprising staff member found rare parchment in a basement of a monastery, and this was given to MacArthur's printer. The ceremony aboard the deck of Missouri lasted 23 minutes and was broadcast throughout the world. It occurred at 35°21′N 139°46′E  /  35.35°N 139.76°E  / 35.35; 139.76 in Tokyo Bay . The instrument

600-645: The flag look like it were going away from battle. The cloth of the historic flag was so fragile that the conservator at the U.S. Naval Academy Museum directed that a protective backing be sewn on it, leaving its "wrong side" visible; and this was how Perry's 31-star flag was presented on this unique occasion. A replica of this historic flag can be seen today on the Surrender Deck of the Battleship Missouri Memorial in Pearl Harbor. The original flag

630-760: The following: At 9:08 a.m., American General of the Army Douglas MacArthur , the Commander in the Southwest Pacific and Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers , accepted the surrender on behalf of the Allied Powers and signed in his capacity as Supreme Commander. After MacArthur, the following representatives signed the instrument of surrender on behalf of each of the Allied Powers: The UK invited Dominion governments to send representatives to

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660-472: The local political and military situation. If possible, these agents had to make contact with the local population to gather information and set up undercover organisations. NEFIS III had little success with the deployment of secret agents. Despite the training course, the agents lacked experience and expertise. It was also difficult to win support from the local population in the Dutch East Indies, as they feared Japanese reprisals. NEFIS III, and its predecessor,

690-486: The mail of Royal Netherlands Navy and Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) personnel. It also checked whether the spouses of Dutch troops in Australia presented a security risk. It was not involved in carrying out secret intelligence operations. That was the task of the Inter-Allied Services Department (ISD), which was set up in April 1942 on the instructions of US General Douglas MacArthur , and

720-787: The navy on 1 January 1949. He wrote his memoirs which were published in 1950 and he died in The Hague, on 20 September 1962. For his services during the World War, Helfrich received several awards. He was Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau with Swords, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion , Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (UK) and awarded the Silver Cross (5th grade) of

750-473: The six pens used by General MacArthur to sign the instrument. Another pen went to the West Point military academy, and one to MacArthur's aide. All of the pens used by MacArthur were black, except the last, which was bright red and went to his wife. A replica of it, along with copies of the instrument of surrender, is in a case on Missouri by the plaque marking the signing spot. The National History Museum of

780-586: The war in Ceylon preparing the return of Dutch administration to the Dutch East Indies. In 1945, he was given command of all Dutch naval forces and promoted to lieutenant admiral. On 2 September 1945, he signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender aboard the battleship USS  Missouri on behalf of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Helfrich returned to the Dutch East Indies on 1 October 1945, where he commanded

810-657: Was first signed by the Japanese foreign minister Mamoru Shigemitsu "By Command and on behalf of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese Government" (9:04 a.m.). General Yoshijirō Umezu , Chief of the Army General Staff, then signed the document "By Command and on behalf of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters" (9:06 a.m.). The Japanese representatives present for the signing were

840-485: Was just a plain ordinary GI-issue flag and a Union Jack. We turned them both into the Naval Academy Museum when we got back to the East Coast in October. The only special flag that was there was a flag which Commodore Perry had flown on his ship out in that same location 82 [ recte 92] years before. It was flown out in its glass case from the Naval Academy Museum. An officer messenger brought it out. We put this hanging over

870-518: Was nothing special about them. Some of the articles in the history say this was the same flag that was flown on the White House or the National Capitol on 7 December 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and at Casablanca, and so forth, also MacArthur took it up to Tokyo and flew it over his headquarters there. The only thing I can say is they were hard up for baloney, because it was nothing like that. It

900-556: Was responsible for sending out agents to commit sabotage and gather intelligence in occupied areas. Two Dutch officers were assigned to the Dutch East Indies section, which, like NEFIS, was based in Melbourne. A few months later, on 6 July 1942, the Inter-Allied Services Department was merged with other intelligence services operating from Australia. The new service was called the Allied Intelligence Bureau (AIB). It included

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