Hello, welcome to the witness history podcast from the BBC World Service, with me, Josephine

McDermott. I'm taking you back to the moment in World War II when Imperial Japan officially

surrendered in China, bringing an end to eight years of war there. 103-year-old John

Stanfield represented the British army in the surrender ceremony. It's 1945, thousands

of people are packed into a courtyard in the forbidden city, the imperial palace complex

in the heart of Beijing, then known as peaking. There's a line of Japanese generals standing

in front of a building with a deep crimson pagoda roof, the hall of supreme harmony. Before

them is a table with surrender documents found in yellow silk for the generals and representatives

of the Allies. Putting pen to paper will bring an end to Japanese occupation. John Stanfield,

a 24-year-old major, has arrived for the ceremony. But what he doesn't know is that he will

have a history-making role. When did you know that you were going to be signing on behalf

of the British? Oh, about half an hour before. Were you surprised? Well, I knew there

was nobody else, somebody had to do it. How did that somebody come to be John? History

starts in 1941 when he joined the British military corps that sets up ways to communicate

in combat. I was called up in my age group when I was

20 and finally commissioned into the Royal Seagulls. Then, we went to India, our unit

was linked to the GHQ in Delhi, in general headquarters. I saw the right man and found

myself appointed to China, a new SOE special operation executive I was posted to China

as the command of China Seagulls. In 1936, Japan had become allies of Nazi Germany. A

year later, it went to war with China, capturing Shanghai, Nanjing and Beijing. Where's even

the military defeat? The most serious blow to China's model prestige is the occupation

of our ancient capital by Japan's armies. The Japanese had controlled all the coast of

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