AUSTRALIAN VETERANS TO ATTEND WWII SURRENDER COMMEMORATIONS ON USS MISSOURI

A commemorative mission party of 17 veterans and one war widow will travel to Hawaii later this month to attend United States commemorations marking the 60th anniversary of the official surrender of Japanese forces in World War II, the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, De-Anne Kelly, announced today.

Mrs Kelly said the delegation represented Australian servicemen and women and merchant seamen who served in the Pacific and south-east Asian theatres of the war, from December 1941 to August 1945.

"On 2 September 1945, the official Japanese surrender was signed aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, officially ending years of global conflict," Mrs Kelly said.

"The Australian mission party will also include two representatives of the Australian ex-service community, the National President of the RSL, Major General Bill Crews (Retd), and the National President of the Australian Veterans and Defence Services Council, Rear Admiral Ian Crawford (Retd).

"I am proud to be leading this delegation of Australian men and women to honour those Australians who served in the Pacific and south-east Asia during World War II and to remember and acknowledge the cooperation between Australia and the United States during the war.

"While in Hawaii, the mission party will visit sites of wartime significance and attend commemorative ceremonies, on behalf of all Australian World War II veterans."

Mrs Kelly said the mission party would be farewelled in Sydney on Saturday 27 August and attend the US commemorative ceremony on 2 September, recognising the formal end of World War II.

"The ceremony commemorating the 60th anniversary of this significant event will take place on the deck of the Missouri, where the surrender was signed in 1945. The Missouri is now a floating museum, located on Battleship Row in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

"The commemorative mission party will be officially representing all Australians at this international ceremony, marking one of the most important dates in our history."

Media contact: Craig Clarke 0417 889 423

A list of veteran representatives follows:

60th anniversary Victory in the Pacific commemorative mission 2005

Invited Guests

Major General Bill Crews (Retd)
National President
Returned & Services League of Australia

Rear Admiral Ian Crawford RAN (Retd)
National President
Australian Veterans and Defence Services Council

Media contact (for veteran interviews):

Angela Murphy (Department of Veterans’ Affairs) 0413 994 704
Cindy West (Department of Veterans’ Affairs) 0411 653 224