Kuzma Derevyanko

File:Derevyanko signing 1945.jpg

In a short event which officially ended the Pacific War, Lieutenant-General Derevyanko representing the Soviet Union signs the instrument of surrender aboard USS Missouri.

Kuzma Nikolayevich Derevyanko (Russian: Кузьма́ Никола́евич Деревя́нко; Ukrainian: Кузьма Миколайович Дерев'янко, Kuzma Mykolaiovych Derevyanko; 1904—1954) was a Lieutenant General in the Soviet Army. He was born on November 14, 1904, in the village of Kosenivka, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire (now Ukraine).

Derevyanko (at the time Chief of Staff of the 35th Army) was the representative of the Soviet Union at the ceremonial signing of the written agreement that established the armistice ending the Pacific War and with it World War II. The Soviet delegation joined other Allied representatives on the battleship USS Missouri which was anchored in Tokyo Bay. Together, the waiting Allies silently acknowledged the representatives of the Japanese Emperor and the representative of the Imperial Japanese Army, who were the last to arrive. The proceedings began when General MacArthur stepped before a single microphone. The 23-minute surrender ceremony was broadcast worldwide. Derevyanko signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender at precisely 9:17 a.m. in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.

He died on December 30, 1954, and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery. In 2007, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine.

He was awarded:

• Hero of Ukraine
• Two Orders of Lenin
• Two Orders of the Red Banner
• Order of Suvorov 1st class
• Order of Kutuzov 1st class
• Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky
• Order of the Red Star
• Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
• Medal "For the Victory over Japan"
• Medal "For the Capture of Budapest"
• Medal "For the Capture of Vienna"
• Jubilee Medal "XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army"
• Jubilee Medal "30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy"

References

• Mooney, James L. (1976). Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Washington, D.C.: United States Navy.