In partnership with the UK Government, the Royal British Legion (RBL) is proud to host 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 on Friday 15 August.
Attended by His Majesty The King, Patron of the RBL, The Queen, and the Prime Minister, the event will honour 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 will hear moving first-hand testimony from VJ veterans who experienced conflict in the Far East before the War ended when atomic bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leading to Japan’s surrender and VJ Day on 15 August 1945.
The Service will pay tribute to those who fought and died during the War in the Far East and Pacific and thank those still with us for their service and bravery. Hosted by acclaimed actress and author Celia Imrie, the service will begin with a national two-minute silence and include flypasts by the Red Arrows and The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster, with military bagpipers playing at dawn in the Far East section of the Arboretum.
“It is an honour to be hosting this momentous occasion with the Royal British Legion, to pay tribute to these courageous and inspiring veterans who are able to join us at the National Memorial Arboretum on VJ Day, and to remember those who never made it home.”
Celia Imrie, host of RBL's Service of Remembrance
"It is an enormous privilege for the RBL to be leading the nation on the 80th anniversary of VJ Day with our Service of Remembrance at National Memorial Arboretum broadcast live on BBC One. Victory over Japan would not have been possible without the diverse contribution of Allied Forces from Britain, the Commonwealth and beyond, and this is one of our last chances to thank veterans who fought in the Far East and Pacific for their service and sacrifice. Their contribution brought an end to the Second World War and this is a moment for the country to come together and commemorate this momentous anniversary and pay tribute to their courage and bravery.”
Mark Atkinson, Director General of the Royal British Legion
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.
Veterans attending the event served in the British Army, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force, with roles ranging from those deployed on submarines, minesweepers and destroyers, to a Spitfire pilot and a combat cameraman. The oldest veterans are Yavar Abbas and Owen Filer aged 105, and other attendees include two of the last surviving Chindits - Charlie Richards, 104, and Sid Machin, 101 – who served in the elite Special Forces unit known for their deep jungle warfare tactics as part of Operation Thursday.
Charlie, from Northamptonshire, who served in the 7th Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment, spent months behind enemy lines involved in jungle warfare, ambushing Japanese supplies and communications, and battling through treacherous terrain, all while pulling along reluctant mules and heavy equipment. Charlie still has vivid memories of his time in Burma.
“I am so proud to attend the RBL’s national event, and I think it will be a really poignant moment for those of us left. I want to represent all those who saw action in the Far East and remember those who never made it home, including my best friend and comrade, Son Johnson, who was killed in action in Burma. It will be such a special day for me and my family.”
Charlie Richards, Second World War veteran and Chindit
Sid, from Dorset, joined the 77th Brigade – the Chindits – in 1942 aged 18, and was posted behind enemy lines in Burma. He was a Signaller, responsible for sending and receiving information, something he describes as being difficult in the jungle as reception was patchy. They could sometimes go days without hearing from anyone, even when Victory in Europe was declared.
Sid Machin, Second World War veteran and Chindit
Joseph Hammond
Joseph Hammond, 100, whose testimony will be shared during the Service, will be watching the live BBC One broadcast from his home in Ghana 3,000 miles away. He fought in Burma in the 82nd Division in brutal conditions near the Irrawaddy River and suffered a serious eye injury and remained in hospital until the war ended before returning to Ghana. In 2020, aged 95, he walked 14 miles over seven days to raise £500,000 for frontline workers and veterans during the COVID-19 pandemic, and last year set up the Joseph Ashitey Hammond Foundation to help others.
“Why should such a thing happen? Man killing his fellow man. Humanity, destroying humanity. Never allow your country to go that way. It’s no good. I know how it feels, so I have to advise everybody to keep away from war. Let us continue to enjoy our peace.”
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Other veterans attending include:
John Eskdale, 100, Royal Marines
John joined the Royal Marines aged 17 and was soon deployed on HMS Charybdis. He survived the torpedo and sinking of the ship before serving in the Far East. When the end of the war was announced he went to Japan to photograph the Hiroshima and Nagasaki aftermath and was there for the signing of the peace treaty.
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John Harlow, 100, Royal Navy
John served as a telegraphist on the minelaying submarine HMS Rorqual. It laid a total of 1,214 mines across its service, more than any other submarine and was the only minelaying submarine to survive the Second World War. Whilst on shore leave, John got married on 11th August 1945 and four days later, on VJ Day, he was on his honeymoon.
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John Shay, 99, Royal Navy
John served on destroyer depot ship HMS Montclare, the flagship of the Pacific Fleet operation against Japan, and in Hong Kong his crew played a key role recapturing the colony. John said: "We freed lots of PoWs and they were overjoyed, we took quite a few onboard our ship." John recalls VJ Day: "I remember the captain came up on deck, grabbed a loudhailer and announced that the War in the Far East was over and gave us the order to 'Splice the mainbrace' - have a double tot of rum!"
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Des Heath, 99, Army
Des was headhunted by the Army's Military Intelligence Unit because of his language skills. He arrived in India in 1945 and spent two months learning Urdu, some of which he still recalls today. He remembers coming under fire from a rebel campaign of Japanese soldiers who refused to concede. He didn't return home until Burmese Independence Day on January 4th, 1948.
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Yavar Abbas, 105, Army
Originally from Lucknow in India, Yavar was commissioned into the British Army in United India in 1942, joined the 11th Sikh Regiment, and became a combat cameraman. Armed with a camera and a jeep, he was soon documenting the brutality of war, from the aftermath of Kohima to major battles in Burma. "I climbed on a tank roof once during the fighting," he recounts. "The tank commander opened the hatch and put me in my place – on the ground!" The risk was great: "A Gurkha soldier was shot next to me, dying right there. It could have been me." He filmed in Hiroshima and later moved to the UK and became a renowned writer, filmmaker and peace advocate. "War is the real crime. If there is no war, there'll be no war crimes."
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Ron Gumbley, 101, Royal Air Force
With Kamikaze planes flying overhead, contending with jungle terrain and dealing with snakes on the base, Ron found himself worlds away from his home in Birmingham aged 18. In Burma he was constantly on high alert but said 'we took everything in our stride and knew we still had a job to do.' He missed the birth of his first child while he was in the Far East and only met her when he was discharged in 1947, when she was aged two. "When that news came that the Japanese had surrendered, we were on our way to Singapore, but not out of danger as I remember while travelling, we had Kamikaze planes flying over us and we knew their intentions – it was tense."
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Trevor Taylor, 100, RAF
For the first time, letters sent by young Trevor to his family in Yorkshire have been made public, 80 years after the war ended. Trevor has kept the letters he sent to his mother during fierce fighting in Burma and Sumatra. He's shown them for the first time to the Royal British Legion as he prepares to attend today.
Also present at today’s commemorations will be three Prisoners of War including Ian Gedye, 94, who was interned in a Japanese PoW camp in occupied China from age 11 to 14 and remembers hearing the news of VJ Day on a homemade radio smuggled into camp.
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’. The RBL’s VJ Day commemorations follow VE80 in May when veterans went to Buckingham Palace for a Tea Party hosted by RBL Patron, The King, and to the NMA hosted by the charity.