Shropshire marks 80th anniversary of VJ Day with Southwater service including veterans and cadets
Even those who remember those who served in the Far East during the Second World War are getting older.
But dignitaries – led by the Lord-Lieutenant of Shropshire Anna Turner and Telford & Wrekin Council leader Lee Carter – plus parade members and a small crowd of onlookers recommitted themselves to “remember them” at a gathering at Southwater Square in Telford today (August 15).
There was a parade, a Christian sermon and readings before standards were bowed and all observed the national two-minute silence at 12pm. Other events took place across the borough while the Iron Bridge was set to be lit up on Friday night to mark the anniversary.
It comes as the occasion was also marked in Shrewsbury, where dignitaries gathered in the Quarry to commemorate the anniversary.
Victory over Japan Day (VJ Day) marks the day Japanese forces surrendered on August, 15, 1945, which ended the Second World War.
Warrant officer Peter Williams, the Shropshire County Parade Marshal, said for him it is all about the young cadets who were a part of his small parade from the war memorial to the Square.
“For me it is all about having the cadets involved,” said Mr Williams, who has led a 35-year career and still serves at RAF Cosford. “It is important for them to understand and to keep this going.
“I think we should continue doing it and not forget.”
Mr Williams was inspired to join the RAF by his grandmother Margaret Williams, who was in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and told him stories of what happened during the war and the celebrations at the end.
RAF cadet instructor Eddie Mansfield, 76, from Malinslee, was a standard-bearer for the ceremony. He uniquely served in three services: the Royal Navy, the RAF and the Territorial Army.
His step-father Basil Ackhurst was a prisoner of the Japanese in Burma during the war. Mr Mansfield said: “I always think of him and his sacrifice at moments like this.”
Ex-serviceman George D’Arcy, from Church Aston near Newport, served for 36 years in the Royal Military Police, finishing his career as a captain.
His father, also named George D’Arcy, fibbed about his age to sign up aged just 16 before the war. He saw action throughout the Far East campaign, including at some of the most brutal battles at Imphal and Kohima which were the turning points of war against the Japanese.
The Rev Laura Lenander, vicar of Telford Minster, recalled the stories her grandfather Ted told her before he died some 20 years ago.
“He remembered the death of friends and it being a really, really difficult time,” she said.
But she added that striving for peace was a vital part of days like these.
Peace was the centrepoint of Telford and Wrekin Mayor Eileen Callear’s speech, as she read the Nagasaki Peace Declaration which calls on global citizens to devote their “utmost efforts towards the abolition of nuclear weapons and the realization of everlasting world peace”.
Councillor Callear released six white doves, representing peace, which flew across Southwater Square before doubling back and heading off in formation over the top of the council’s headquarters.
Following the ceremony in Shrewsbury, Helen Ball, Town clerk of Shrewsbury Town Council said: “Today we mark VJ Day – the day in 1945 when the Second World War finally came to an end with the surrender of Japan.
"While the guns had fallen silent in Europe three months earlier, many continued to serve and sacrifice in the Far East. For them, and for the families who endured years of separation and uncertainty, VJ Day brought relief, but also deep remembrance of those who never came home.
"As a community, we pause to honour the courage, endurance, and sacrifice of all who served in the Far East, and to reflect on the peace and freedoms we enjoy today because of them.
"We will remember them.”
