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[Misc] VJ Day



lawros left foot

lawros left foot

Glory hunting since 1969
Jun 11, 2011
13,711
Worthing
It’s the 75th Anniversary of VJ Day on Saturday that marked the end of WW2.

I don’t feel enough is made of this, seen hardly anything about in the media.

I knew 2 lovely old gentlemen, one served in Burma with the Chindits , the other in Malaya, both have passed away in the last12 months.

RIP Ted.
RIP Derek
 




pastafarian

pastafarian

Well-known member
Sep 4, 2011
11,902
Sussex
lawros left foot said:
It’s the 75th Anniversary of VJ Day on Saturday that marked the end of WW2.

I don’t feel enough is made of this, seen hardly anything about in the media.

I knew 2 lovely old gentlemen, one served in Burma with the Chindits , the other in Malaya, both have passed away in the last12 months.

RIP Ted.
RIP Derek
Click to expand...

This.

If anyone hasnt read up on the Chindits it is well worth it. Their (British and Indian troops) exploits are quite remarkable. Actually remarkable is an understatement.
Legendary and astonishing fits better.
 


portlock seagull

portlock seagull

Why? Why us?
Jul 28, 2003
17,070
lawros left foot said:
It’s the 75th Anniversary of VJ Day on Saturday that marked the end of WW2.

I don’t feel enough is made of this, seen hardly anything about in the media.

I knew 2 lovely old gentlemen, one served in Burma with the Chindits , the other in Malaya, both have passed away in the last12 months.

RIP Ted.
RIP Derek
Click to expand...

I always remember it, have always been more interested in the Far East theatre than European. Forgotten they’re not. I shall be having a tea party same as did for VE. I’ve been lucky to visit the battlefields and camps in Singapore and Thailand, even where the Japs bombed Darwin in the top end! My only regret is never knowing a veteran from out there. I knew of one, but it was clear he never spoke about his capture by the enemy. And tacitly everyone knew not to ask questions because he came back a different person apparently and never spoke of. Undoubtedly he must have witnessed and suffered unimaginable horrors. Passed away relatively recently too. When I was a kid I thought he was just very odd. Only later in adult life did I learn he was captured in Singapore, the greatest disaster in the history of the British Army as you know. About 10 years ago I raised £500 for ex POWs association, very few left alive then but it came in handy and I received a lovely letter in response. I imagine non of those captured can be alive now and all but a handful of the liberators like the ones you knew must have passed on by now too. Sure most interested people like us read the railway man in the mid 90s, more recently the forgotten highlander. But there are many other excellent accounts and Max Hastings Nemesis is a great single volume account. It even mentions the densely forested mountains of Burma resounding to Sussex By The Sea as The Royal Sussex fought bitterly to help drive the Japanese back in early 1945! Fighting in European climate must have been like a picnic compared to the Jungle and tropics out there. Lest we forget.
 


L

Lurcio

New member
Nov 10, 2009
10
My paternal grandad was captured at the fall of Singapore and spent the rest of the war as a POW in Taiwan. I didn't know it when he was alive and he never spoke of it.

There were two books written by former prisoners of the Kinkaseki camp where he spent most of his time, Banzai You ******** and Kinkaseki: One Day at a Time. This site has information about the camp.

http://www.powtaiwan.org/The Camps/camps_detail.php?Kinkaseki-POW-Camp-1

Two Albion related stories:

1. It is thanks to my grandad that I support Brighton. He asked me and my brother who we supported when we were kids in the early 70s. My brother said Leeds which was the case for a lot of kids at that time and I said Chelsea which I did to wind my brother up after the 1970 FA Cup final replay. My grandad was a big and scary guy so we both did as we were told when he said you should support your local team.

2. I took my dad to our home game against Hull in the 2014/15 season. At Lewes station ticket barriers my dad stopped and just looked around. I asked him if he was OK and he replied that the last time he had been at the station was as an 11 year old to meet my grandad when he returned from the war. He had walked on his own from the flat they lived in on De Warrenne Road and sat waiting. After about 1/2 an hour my nan arrived and saw that my dad and grandad were sat opposite each other, each side of the the ticket office, but neither had recognised the other.

Sent from my FIG-LX1 using Tapatalk
 


AmexRuislip

AmexRuislip

Trainee Spy 🕵️‍♂️
Feb 2, 2014
33,801
Ruislip
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2020/vj-day

Saturday 15 August 2020 marks 75 years since victory over Japan, the moment that finally brought the Second World War to an end. To commemorate this anniversary and remember those who served in the Far East, the BBC will broadcast two special programmes.

The morning coverage on BBC One (9.30-11.30am) will come live from the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, where the remembrance commemoration is taking place. In the studio, Sophie Raworth will hear from guests who will be discussing the significance of this anniversary and from veterans who remember leaving home for an unknown country and an unknown enemy and how it feels to be known as the ‘forgotten army.’ Dan Snow will speak to those preparing to participate in the morning’s commemoration, many of whom will have personal links to VJ Day. Fergal Keane will provide commentary of the event, and a national two minutes silence will be led by HRH The Prince of Wales.
The commemorations will close in the evening on BBC One (8.30-10pm) at Horse Guards Parade in London where, at a unique evening event, the story of all those that served in the Far East will be told. Narrated by Joanna Lumley, whose father was an officer with the 6th Gurkha Rifles, the event will chart the crucial campaign that led to the end of the Second World War. Key moments of the conflicts will be reflected through readings and musical performances. Sheridan Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Paterson Joseph and Martin Shaw will bring to life well-known and influential figures of the Second World War. HRH The Duke of Cambridge will pay tribute to the veterans and acknowledge the sacrifices made by so many for our freedom.
Victory over Japan 75 years ago brought mixed emotions for those fighting in the malaria ridden jungles of the Far East. Relief and joy that the end of the war had finally arrived, but sadness at the human cost. Those who had fought on through the final three months, largely forgotten by people at home, could finally look forward to returning to their loved ones, and some sort of normality. But for many who had toiled for years in the brutal battlefields, or been prisoners, the end of the war didn’t mean the end of their suffering. The memories of what they endured and the loss of their comrades would live with them, forever.
Charlotte Moore, Director BBC Content, says: “The 75th anniversary of VJ Day is an opportunity to unify the nation in remembrance and to reflect on the peace that victory enabled. It’s fitting that the BBC will bring audiences together for this anniversary of such national significance, which will have a new resonance as we begin to emerge from lockdown.
 
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lawros left foot

lawros left foot

Glory hunting since 1969
Jun 11, 2011
13,711
Worthing
Derek, who I mentioned in an earlier post, stayed in Japan just after the war, and was part of the War Crimes trials against the Japanese. He was a Sergeant Major , and reading between the lines of what he told me, was in charge of the firing squads tat carried out the final sentence on the war criminals.
 


M

MattBackHome

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
11,722
Yeah completely agree it's one of those theatres of WW2 (basically everywhere except Normandy and Kent) that doesn't get the attention ot deserves. I've been enjoying the We Have Ways podcasts dedicated to it.

My paternal Grandad was out in Burma, then invalided back via a long stay in India following a nasty double blow of dysentery & malaria. He never spoke much about it, so we're not clear on exactly what action he saw. He had one medal ('for turning up" as he described it) which he bequeathed to me, which once he tried to sell, but the bloke told him it wasn't worth anything. I'm so glad cause it's worth a hell of a lot to me! He lived a long and happy life anyway.
 






Kuipers Supporters Club

Kuipers Supporters Club

Well-known member
Feb 10, 2009
5,638
GOSBTS
We had planned a rather large event that sadly has had to be cancelled.

Instead I'll be at two very low key events and laying a wreath at 11am.

I speak regularly with a VJ Vet. A great man.
 


Fignon's Ponytail

Fignon's Ponytail

Well-known member
Jun 29, 2012
4,117
On the Beach
As a lad I was fascinated by the European theatre of WW2. I watched (and still do) any programmes that were on, but I have to admit its only the last few years that I really took any real notice of the Far Eastern campaign.
It was a brutal arena to be fighting in, and the lads that were out there deserve as much recognition as those who came home from France and Germany earlier in the year.

One of the lads I work with visited Myanmar about 10 years ago for 3 months, and his granddad fought out there. He said it was a beautiful place, but must've been horrendous to fight in.

I shall be taking those moments on Saturday to remember them - and may stick on a few episodes of The Pacific over the weekend, which I thought was done superbly. I know its based on the US battles of the Far East, but its worth a watch if anyone hasn't yet done so.
 




vegster

vegster

Sanity Clause
May 5, 2008
27,892
My late mother had two brothers who were older than her and they both served in the RAF, nothing glorious like flying Spits or Hurry's, both did their bit as ground crew. My Uncle Geoff was mostly based in the UK but his squadron was posted to Italy as the net closed on Axis forces. My uncle Raymond however, found himself out in Singapore in 1942 with his squadron. I Can't give details of what happened but it was known in the family that the squadron was withdrawn at some point during the battle and their planes ( prob Hurry's ) were flown out and the ground crew were to be taken out by ship from the harbour, It seems that the local population had heard that the Japanese were coming and, fearful of their lives were trying to get aboard any ship that was leaving. My uncle and his squadron had boarded a ship that was leaving along with many Australian troops.

. Apparently there was a mass panic and many locals tried to jump on to the ship as it left, dangerously overloading it. He said that the Australian soldiers were ordered to draw bayonets and "cut off " the many locals hanging on to the ship and trying to climb board. They literally hacked off their fingers and hands in the panic to get them off the ship and get out. I have no idea if this was true and I never had the gall to ask Uncle Ray to ask him as it was one of those things we did not talk about...

. Both my uncles proudly did their bit, my Uncle Geoff said the worst part of his job was when on recovery and burial detail when they had to try to track down shot down planes from their squadron and recover the bodies of their lost comrades and give them a decent burial. I salute them both and I will never forget their service.
 


jakarta

jakarta

Well-known member
May 25, 2007
15,621
Sullington
Early 1970's Local Spar Shop on a little parade in Sandiway, Cheshire, just around the corner from our house so I would be sent on errands.

Run by Fred and Nora. Noticed one day when he didn't have his white shop coat on that he had a Burma Star badge on his lapel. When I asked he said he had been a Gunner out in Burma. He didn't volunteer any more information.

When I mentioned to Nora I would like to talk to him about his time out there she shook her head violently and told me not to bring up the subject again as apparently he still had regular nightmares.

When you go home
tell them of us and say,
For your tomorrow,
we gave our today
 


Grassman

Grassman

Well-known member
Jun 12, 2008
2,562
Tun Wells
My dad fought in Burma and I have to say he never mentioned much about it, though Bridge Over The River Kwai was his favourite film! He left Brighton as an 18yr old in 1944 (having never been anyway) and ended up out there as his first posting, something I cannot imagine.

He never had a problem with German people, in fact in the 70s German students often stayed with us for the summer out there in darkest Portslade, but he never had a kind word to say about the Japanese.

He took me to The Goldstone in the mid 70s and hooked me up to The Albion for life, but died in 2007. Today I will mostly be remembering him.
 








Paskman

Paskman

Not a user
May 9, 2008
2,013
Chiddingly, United Kingdom
My grandfather was at Imphal: He was an armourer Sgt with the RAF, working on Spitfires and Beaufighters. As the Beaufighters could be re-armoured in flight, he would sometimes fly on operational missions. On one occasion the Beaufighter was brought down and he and his pilot ended up in the jungle behind Japanese lines; somehow they both made their way through the lines and back into the pocket and their base, where they carried on as before [emoji15]. The worse thing for him were the centipedes (very poisonous) and kraits, both of which would hide in your boots at night.

He hated "Johnny Jap" and loved the Ghurkas. In the 1960s we had a Japanese language student stay with us in Brighton. One weekend we took him over the meet my grandfather. They went for a long private talk in his garden. Surprisingly they got on like a house on fire [emoji106]. You see, they had more in common they your would imagine......Hiro had been in Nagasaki in August 1945............. reconciliation and forgivenessat its best.

RIP to my grandfather.
 


Wellesley

Wellesley

Well-known member
Jul 24, 2013
4,973
I feel the older I get the more I become emotional remembering horrific events such as these. Probably because most of those that died from the services were far younger than I am now. When I visited the war graves in France and Belgium it had an everlasting affect on me. Of course I felt deep sadness but the predominant emotion was frustration. It was during the Yugoslav break up that the evil and wastefulness of war really hit home to me, I think because it was during that time I had my first child. We owe them so much.
 






The Clamp

The Clamp

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jan 11, 2016
24,472
West is BEST
I think because it wasn’t as close to home as the European theatre and the controversial dropping of two atomic bombs that affect how people remember VJ Day.

However, the always EXCELLENT podcast, We Have Ways of Making You Talk, has this week done two specials for the occasion, one fo which features the memories of a veteran and his experience of the war. The We Have Ways... podcast consistently delivers great casts.
 


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