Southampton to mark VJ Day with commemorative events
The events, scheduled on August 15 and 16 will honour the end of the Second World War.
They will also recognise the city's pivotal role in welcoming home thousands of troops and civilians from the Far East.
VJ Day in 1945, which was the day the Allies declared victory over Japan, marked the end of the war and was a significant moment of relief for many who had served in the Far East, including prisoners of war and civilian internees.
In the months following VJ Day, more than 22,000 people were repatriated through the port of Southampton.
Councillor Alex Winning, leader of Southampton City Council, said: "Southampton's role in VJ Day and the months that followed is a powerful testament to our city's resilience, compassion, and commitment to those who served and suffered during the Second World War.
"As we mark the 80th anniversary, it is important we honour the sacrifices made, remember the stories of those who returned home, and ensure their legacy is never forgotten.
"These commemorations offer our community a chance to come together in reflection, gratitude, and remembrance."
READ MORE: Fun for all the family at HMS Sultan's action-packed Families Day
A series of events on August 15, including a flag-raising ceremony, a guided walking tour, and a commemorative lunch for veterans on Cunard's Queen Mary 2, will honour those who served in the Far East.
Full details and updates can be found at visitsouthampton.co.uk/ve-day-80.
The original Queen Mary, which was docked in port in 1945 and joined other ships in sounding her whistle to mark the end of the war, will be commemorated by the Queen Mary 2 sounding her whistle after the national two minutes' silence at noon.
The day will conclude with a beacon lighting ceremony at Holyrood Church and the illumination of the O2 Guildhall in red, white, and blue.
A day of community-focused commemorations will follow on August 16, including a veterans' parade, a commemorative service, and a picnic in Palmerston Park with live music and military displays.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Friday's EuroMillions jackpot estimated to hit £201m
Friday's EuroMillions lottery jackpot will reach an estimated £201 million after Tuesday's top prize went unclaimed. While no one matched the jackpot, one UK player came close – winning £680,767 for matching five numbers and one Lucky Star. The National Lottery EuroMillions winning numbers are 18, 28, 42, 46 and 48. The lucky stars are 03 and 09. No tickets matched all five numbers to take home £1,000,000 in EuroMillions Hotpicks, which uses the same numbers as the EuroMillions draw. Three players matched four numbers, winning £30,000 each. Tuesday's National Lottery Thunderball winning numbers are 21, 29, 34, 36 and 38. The Thunderball is 08. No one took home the £500,000 top prize, but one player matched five numbers to win £5,000.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
The Mancunian Way: What Andy Burnham needs to do
Over the summer holidays, most parents face a six-week-long battle of how to entertain their children, with long days and short attention spans making unhappy bedfellows. Already, some mums and dads' minds will be on September's return to school, and not for the promise of an empty home. Questions like 'do I need to get new school shoes?', 'will they settle into a new school?', and 'have they picked the right options?' will swirl around busy heads. READ MORE: Investigation launched after biker dies following crash on Greater Manchester road READ MORE: 'If they told us how much we owed, we'd pay it back': Councillors 'overpaid' for years speak out Never miss a story with the MEN's daily Catch Up newsletter - get it in your inbox by signing up here But some parents face an even more difficult choice. There are 5,414 homeless households in Greater Manchester who have been placed in temporary accommodation. Usually, they lose their home through no fault of their own, and that temporary accommodation is miles away. The knock-on effect for their children is immediate. Parents who watched their sons and daughters walk a few minutes to the school gates now need to work out how to co-ordinate a longer journey to class. The law says they can get free home-to-school travel, if they are moved more than two miles from their primary school or three miles from secondary, AND there's no suitable school closer to home. It's almost impossible to be more than three miles from a school in Greater Manchester. So parents have to decide if they want to try and move their child closer to their temporary home, or fork out for buses every week when they're at their lowest. The Manchester Evening News believes this is a dilemma no parent in temporary accommodation should have to face. It's why we're calling on Andy Burnham to implement a new bus pass that would give children in temporary accommodation free bus travel if they're moved more than a 30-minute walk from school. You can support us here. It only takes a minute. It would be a massive help for homeless parents, according to one mum who spent five months in temporary accommodation last year. When her home in Harpurhey flooded last May, she found temporary accommodation through Manchester council — but it was in Salford Crescent. That meant her 13-year-old daughter went from walking five minutes to school to needing two buses, which took an hour. Mum, who asked to stay anonymous, couldn't afford the £10 weekly bus ticket. Her daughter only stayed in school because Manchester Communication Academy staff paid for her buses. 'My bills are extortionate,' mum explained. 'I need to pay those and keep food in for the kids. The last thing on my mind is the bus fare. I used to live just across the road from school, so it was a five-minute walk for my daughter. 'Once we had the flood we got moved to Salford, I would not have the money to even meet my mum at the shopping centre. [My daughter] would have to take two buses from Salford and that would be 45 minutes with traffic to go in and out of town. She was only 13, so that was scary sending her to school on her own in an area we did not know.' I think that explains one reason why we're asking the mayor to make this change. Another reason is making reforms like this will deliver on the promise of the Bee Network. The concept of the Bee Network was first announced in 2021, sold to the public and politicians on the basis Greater Manchester would see better bus services with easier-to-understand tickets, all of which were now in public control. More changes could be made if residents wished, the mayor added, because now they could tell democratically-elected politicians what needed to be done, rather than campaign in vain to faceless multi-nationals' boardrooms. Bee Network buses have run across Greater Manchester for six months now. Since January 5, tickets have been revised to include 'tap-and-go' fares across buses and trams for the first time. Some routes have changed and been re-introduced, and preliminary data suggests punctuality and patronage have improved compared to privately-run buses. Work to shape the Bee Network into Greater Manchester's vision is continuing: Transport chiefs are in the middle of a concessionary fare review, relaxing rules which stopped disabled and old people using their bus passes before 9:30am on weekdays this month. To his credit, when the M.E.N. launched our campaign on Sunday, he immediately said he would examine our call. 'We are doing a lot to make travel easier and more affordable for everyone in Greater Manchester, including children and young adults. That includes £1 single bus fares, free travel for 16-18-year-olds, an extension of free travel for care leavers and, from next month, half price bus travel for 18-21-year-olds,' a mayoral spokesperson said. 'Transport for Greater Manchester is currently undertaking a broader review of concessions, considering all the requests for support that we get from a range of groups across the city-region, and the Mayor has asked them to ensure this is included.' But having changed tickets and introduced new vehicles and services, to truly realise the potential of the Bee Network, it's taking steps like this which matter. An efficient bus service is one thing, but having a publicly-controlled network which responds to the public is another.
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Yahoo
105-year-old taken as PoW after torpedo attack tells Sophie of VJ Day liberation
One of the oldest surviving veterans of the Second World War has told the Duchess of Edinburgh over a cup of tea how his Royal Navy ship was torpedoed by the Japanese before he was held as a prisoner of war for more than three years. Sophie met 105-year-old Royal Marines veteran James 'Jim' Wren in Salisbury on Tuesday ahead of the 80th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day (VJ Day), which marks the surrender of Japan to the Allied Forces on August 15 and the end of the Second World War. Mr Wren survived the sinking of HMS Repulse in December 1941 but was captured by the Japanese in Singapore in February 1942. He spent the next three and a half years as a prisoner of war and was still in captivity in August 1945 when the war ended. When the duchess, who is patron of The Java Far East Prisoner of War Club 1942, asked if his family knew he had survived, Mr Wren said: 'It was right until the end of the war until they knew I was alive. 'So they suffered all this time.' Mr Wren sat next to Sophie at the Old Sarum Manor Care Home surrounded by four generations of his family, including his daughter Denise Dables, 69, son-in-law Andy Dables, 72, his granddaughter Kirsty Dables, 51, and great-granddaughters Freya, 18, and Ellie, 16. The veteran caused mirth when Sophie asked what had attracted him to serve in the Navy, and he replied: 'Nothing attracted me to the Navy – I didn't want to be in the Navy.' Mr Wren applied to join the RAF and the Army when he was 19, but was turned down. He then joined the Navy after his uncle, a retired Royal Marine, was recalled on reserve. After completing the eight-month training course, Mr Wren was posted to join the battlecruiser HMS Repulse in the autumn of 1940. On December 10 1941, HMS Repulse was sunk by Japanese aircraft off the coast of Malaya, in what is now Malaysia. Mr Wren recalled: 'It was around 11 o'clock in the morning, I was having a cup of tea on the mess deck and the alarm was raised. 'I dropped my cup and as I left the mess deck, the first bomb dropped right behind me. 'Fortunately, it didn't explode – I was able to go down two or three decks before it exploded. 'It was torpedo after torpedo,' Mr Wren added. The veteran, who grew up in Sussex, also remembered when he was captured by Japanese soldiers alongside a group of civilians as they attempted to flee Singapore on a boat. 'It must have been awful, because you were surrounded by women and children,' the duchess told Mr Wren, who nodded. 'We didn't know when our next meal was coming from or when our next drink was coming from…' he added. 'They had no idea how to deal with prisoners of wars, the Japanese – no idea.' Mr Wren was kept as a prisoner in Sumatra until he was released in August 1945, after Japan surrendered. Son-in-law Andy Dables said Mr Wren did not start sharing his war memories until he was 99. 'We are just impressed that he remembers everything – he's as sharp as any,' Mr Dables said. 'But you wouldn't just forget anything like that, though, would you?' The King will commemorate the 80th anniversary of VJ Day on Friday with an address to the nation, Buckingham Palace previously said. Charles's pre-recorded audio message will be broadcast on VJ Day ahead of a service of remembrance attended by the King and Queen, Second World War veterans and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
