US officials mark 70th anniversary of WWII’s official end

Veterans and their families bow their heads during a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015 in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The veterans gathered on board the decomissioned battleship Missouri, the same ship Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and Army Gen. Yoshijiro Umezu boarded in Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2, 1945 to sign documents to formally surrender. AP

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — US officials gathered on a decommissioned battleship in Pearl Harbor to mark the 70th anniversary of World War II’s end.

US Sen. Brian Schatz and US Rep. Mark Takai of Hawaii joined US Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Scott Swift at a ceremony Wednesday.

The Missouri’s decks are where Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and Army Gen. Yoshijiro Umezu signed documents to formally surrender on Sept. 2, 1945. The USS Missouri was anchored in Tokyo Bay at the time.

Allied leaders including Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Adm. Chester Nimitz also signed the surrender documents.

The ship is now a museum called the Battleship Missouri Memorial. It’s moored at a spot overlooking where the USS Arizona sank during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.