India, Sept. 3 -- Six years of global warfare, millions of lives lost and entire cities reduced to rubble -- all came to an end in a single, 23-minute ceremony.

On the morning of September 2, 1945, the battleship USS Missouri lay anchored in Tokyo Bay. There were no parades, cheering crowds or victory arches on the deck. Instead, Allied officers and Japanese delegates gathered around a green-felt-covered table to sign the document that formally ended World War II 81 years ago.

At 9:02 am, General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, opened the proceedings. What followed took only 23 minutes.

A small Japanese delegation stepped aboard the Missouri. Foreign minister Mamoru Shigemitsu represented the Japanese go...