More than 16 million Americans served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II. The 1970 Census identified 12.5 million World War II veterans living in the United States. In 2000, there were 5.7 million World War II veterans, and fewer than 500,000 in 2020. In 2023, the Census Bureau's American Community Survey estimated that just 91,008 veterans of that war remained.
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After years of bloody warfare, the United States and dozens of Allied nations celebrated Victory Over Japan (VJ) Day on August 15, 1945. The day marked Japan's agreement to surrender and the end of a global conflict during which approximately 15 million members of the military and 45 million civilians died. Of the 16 million Americans who served in the United States Armed Forces, 407,316 service members and 5,662 merchant mariners died.
Iconic image from VJ Day celebrations in New York City's Time Square by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt.
World War II began with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. Japan's invasion of French Indochina made the conflict a global war in 1940. When hostilities began, the United States was initially committed to remaining neutral but it allowed other nations to purchase war materiel and lent Great Britain naval ships in exchange for 99-year base leases. In the Pacific, the United States increasingly imposed trade restrictions, embargoes, and economic sanctions on Japan while offering purchase credit and supplies to China.
Fearing American interference in their campaign of Asian expansion and resources acquisition, Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, hoping to cripple the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet. Despite sinking or damaging 19 U.S. Navy ships (including eight battleships) and destroying 188 aircraft, the attack failed to destroy repair and oil infrastructure or damage any of the fleet's aircraft carriers. Following the attack, the United States declared war on Japan on December 8 and Germany on December 11, 1941.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the war, the Allies (the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union) agreed on a strategy to defeat the Axis (Germany, Japan, and Italy). The majority of resources would focus on defeating Germany and Italy first, while halting Japanese expansion.
By 1943, the Axis had suffered defeats in North Africa, Eastern Europe, and Italy. The June 1944 D-Day invasion opened yet another front in Western Europe, which forced Germany into a gradual retreat. By April 1945, the Allies had encircled the remaining Nazi force near Berlin. Germany officially surrendered on May 8, 1945. Celebrants around the world cheered Victory in Europe (VE) Day. However, as Harry S. Truman, who became President after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in April 1945, cautioned, “Much remains to be done. The victory won in the West must now be won in the East.”
In the Pacific, the Allies halted the Japanese advance in June 1942 at the Battle of Midway. They then built on this momentum through a series of hard-fought island battles that brought them ever closer to the Japanese homeland. So as Europe began its recovery, the war raged on in the Pacific and the Allies shifted their focus and resources there.
As American bombers decimated Japanese cities, American troops captured the island of Okinawa in June 1945. In July, General Douglas MacArthur liberated the Philippines. That only left the Japanese mainland left to conquer in what promised to be a long and bloody battle. Instead of the invasion, the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6. Two days later, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Manchuria. The United States dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki on August 9. The next day, Japan agreed to accept the Allies' terms of surrender if the rule of Emperor Hirohito could be preserved. On August 15, Japanese citizens heard the voice of Emperor Hirohito for the first time when he announced Japan's surrender during a radio broadcast. The deadliest war in human history came to an end with the celebration of VJ Day. Japan signed the formal Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri (BB-63) anchored in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.
You can learn more about World War II using U.S. Census Bureau data and records. For example:
General Douglas MacArthur signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on the deck of the USS Missouri (BB-63) in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.
Portrait Francis Amasa Walker when he was an assistant adjutant general in the II Army Corps.
On August 25, 1864, Confederate soldier Jacob W. Cobb, Jr. captured future Superintendent of the Census Francis Amasa Walker during the Civil War's Second Battle of Ream's Station.
Released during an October 1864 prisoner exchange, Walker returned to his family's home in North Brookfield, MA.
Walker was working at a Springfield, MA, newspaper when President Ulysses Grant appointed him to supervise the 1870 Census. A decade later, President Rutherford B. Hayes asked Walker to oversee the 1880 Census.
Learn more about Walker in Captured! The Civil War Experience of Superintendent of the Census Francis Amasa Walker.
Hundreds of Census Bureau employees fought in World War II and dozens made the ultimate sacrifice.
In 1948, the Census Bureau Recreation Association raised funds for a brass plaque honoring their service and sacrifice. Although the plaque listed 35 names, the Census Bureau's History Office continues to add more names and stories as research about the agency's World War II veterans continues. Their stories are featured in The Census Bureau and WWII: Honoring the Fallen. Among them:
A World War II Victory Medal was awarded to any member of the U.S. Armed Forces serving between December 7, 1941, and December 31, 1946.
Hundreds veterans worked for the U.S. Census Bureau in the decades after the war. Just a few of these employees include:
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