On 80th anniversary of the end of WWII, a program of remembrance as Americans and Japanese reflect on VJ Day

As the world observes the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II on Tuesday, September 2nd, at 11:30 a.m. an extraordinary visit from Shinto priests arriving from Japan will join members of clergy, Nassau County Executive Bruce A. Blakeman, Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine, The Museum of American Armor, Long Island veterans organizations, and Dr. Eriko Sato, Executive Director, The Japan Center at SUNY Stony Brook, to conduct a bi-county program of remembrance and reflection at The Museum of American Armor, 1303Round Swamp Road, Old Bethpage, NY.

The public is invited.

Among those attending is Colonel Jason Halloren (Ret.), an Armor Museum trustee and former Deputy Commandant of West Point. “This gathering will underscore how two nations that were bitter enemies eighty years ago are now staunch allies in the shared defense of democracy. It has been an extraordinary journey but the presence of three Shinto priests dramatically underscore the road that our two nations have traveled from the deck of the USS Missouri in September of 1945 to today.”