Service of Remembrance marks 80th Anniversary of VJ Day
On Friday 15 August, the Royal British Legion, in partnership with the Government hosted 33 Second World War veterans as guests of honour at a Service of Remembrance at the National Memorial Arboretum to mark the 80th Anniversary of VJ Day.
Attended by His Majesty The King, The Queen, and the Prime Minister, the event honoured the British, Commonwealth and Allied Veterans who served in the Far East theatres of war including Burma, now Myanmar, the Pacific and Indian Ocean Territories.
Around 1,500 guests attended the service at the base of the Armed Forces Memorial. Thousands more members of the public watched a screening of the service elsewhere in the grounds of the Arboretum.
The event paid tribute to those who fought and died during the War in the Far East and featured moving first hand testimony from VJ Day Veterans who experienced the conflict. Hosted by acclaimed actor and author Celia Imrie, the service began with a national two-minute silence and included flypasts by the Red Arrows and historic aircraft from The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.
Veterans attending the event served in the British Army, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force, with roles ranging from those deployed in submarines, minesweepers and destroyers, to a Spitfire pilot and a combat cameraman. Captain Yavar Abbas, 105, who served in the 11th Sikh regiment of the British Army as a combat cameraman was one of the veterans whose moving reflections featured in the service. Armed with a camera and a jeep, Yavar documented the brutality of war in the Far East. During the event he read an excerpt from his war diary in which, on the 8 February 1945, he wrote “Tomorrow, I hope I will live to do better things.”
Many of the veterans at the Arboretum in Staffordshire – the nation’s year-round place to remember – have never told their story before registering with the Royal British Legion to be part of commemorations to mark the 80th anniversary of Victory Over Japan.
Actor Anton Lesser shared a moving tribute from John Harlow, 100, who served as a telegraphist on the minelaying submarine HMS Rorqual. In his testimony he reflected on the loss of a close friend. “War doesn’t grant you the luxury of goodbyes…Every year on VJ Day I think of a close friend of mine that was onboard Mark Webber. Our paths mirrored one another. We did our training together, we became telegraphists, and we’d share stories over a cold drink back at the base. It could so easily have been me. I wish today to remember all those of HMS Porpoise, Mark and all lost at sea”
The experiences of Olga Henderson and Barbara Sowerby, who were interned as Prisoners of War in the Far East as children, alongside the recollections of former Chindits Sid Machin and Charlie Richards, were also featured. Army Veteran George Durrant also shared his reflections on stage alongside his great-granddaughter Elsbeth.
Around five million men and women served in the British Armed Forces during the Second World War, with millions more mobilised from countries including pre-partition India, Australia, Canada, and across the Commonwealth including African and Caribbean nations.
VE Day signalled Victory in Europe, but the end of the War would not have been possible without the combined efforts of all those who contributed to the Far East theatres of war, including those who fought in what is often referred to as the ‘Forgotten Army’.
Following the service His Majesty The King, hosted by Philippa Rawlinson, National Memorial Arboretum Director, visited several memorials in the Arboretum’s Far East Area, including the Burma Star Memorial and Changi Lych Gate.
You can watch the event in full on BBC iPlayer.
Every day until 16 November, visitors can engage with the Arboretum’s year-long ‘The Year Was 1945…’ activity programme. This series of exhibitions, events, services, talks and tours, opens a window in time to 1945 to share the stories of those who lived and served 80 years ago.
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