U.S. Navy, File/AP Gen. Douglas MacArthur signs the Japanese surrender documents on Sept. 2, 1945, aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
TribLIVE's Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox. No Christmas in American history compares to that of 75 years ago: Christmas 1945. For the first time in several painfully long years, a nation at war was a nation at peace. Germany had surrendered in May and Japan in August. World War II was finally over. “Home for Christmas!” became the rallying cry for U.S. troops. Some arrived home just after, and most with no fanfare and ticker-tape parade.