As American servicemen prepared for a bloody battle in the Pacific, an unprecedented event would change the course of WWII.

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In a radio interview on September 12, 1943, United Press war correspondent Robert Bellair, recently returned from his station in Japan, paints a picture of the conditions in the country shortly before and after the Pearl Harbor attack.

The Lasting Impact of War

On the day after the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt tells a joint session of Congress that the United States must take up arms in response.

An NBC news report summarizes the events of August 15, 1945, when Emperor Hirohito of Japan announced that his country will accept unconditional surrender and called for a ceasefire that formally ended World War II.

On August 30, 1945, U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur arrived in Japan to organize the Allied occupation of the country. NBC coverage of the event includes news of released POWs and the general's good spirits as he descends the ramp of his four-engine C-54.

On September 1, 1945, in a radio address to the American people, President Harry Truman announces the unconditional surrender of Japan, formalized aboard the U.S.S. Missouri.