Isle of Man to fall silent to mark 80th anniversary of VJ Day
Other Commemorations
Services will also be taking place to mark the anniversary and pay tribute to those who died. Douglas: at 10:15 BST a short ceremony will be held at Hilary Park and will include wreath laying, a performance of The Last Post, and a one-minute silence.Mayor Steven Crellin, who will be at the service, said: "'The Asia-Pacific conflict is sometimes referred to as the 'forgotten war,' but it must never be forgotten."Onchan: The Royal British Legion's Onchan branch will host a wreath-laying ceremony at the Onchan War Memorial from 10:45 until 11:15.
Commemorations would also see the Tower of Refuge, the Legislative Buildings and Ramsey Swing Bridge illuminated red in tribute from dusk.And the bells at St George's Church in Douglas will ring out at 18:30 to recreate the ringing that took place across Britain as people took to the streets in celebration of the end of the conflict.
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Times
12 hours ago
- Times
Last VJ Day veterans tell their stories on 80th anniversary
John Harlow was not able to read his words in person. But he was able to be there, near the King, to listen to them be read. And where others at the National Memorial Arboretum service spoke of grand themes — of peace, war, humanity — he marked the 80th anniversary of VJ Day by speaking instead of a friend. On January 9, 1945, Harlow was on a submarine, laying mines in the Indian Ocean. Mark Webber was on a different submarine. The pair had trained together, become telegraphists together and debriefed over cold drinks together. That day Webber's ship sent a message confirming her mission was complete. Then the crew were never heard of again. 'It could so easily have been me,' said Harlow, 100, in words read by the actor Anton Lesser. His was, he said, the only submarine minelayer to survive. So every VJ day, he said he remembers Webber. 'War doesn't grant you the luxury of goodbyes.' Not for the last time that afternoon, the King wiped his eye. As Britain marked 80 years since the end of the Second World War, the stories of the surviving veterans — read in person where possible at the National Memorial Arboretum, or read by proxies or pre-recorded on video — were once commonplace. Once, there were thousands of Johns and thousands of Marks. Once, those who survived the Far East, who came to call it with occasional bitterness 'the forgotten war', numbered in the hundreds of thousands. They were the British sailors, like Trevor Taylor, 100, who remembered the kamikaze planes flying over his ship. They were the Commonwealth soldiers, such as Joseph Hammond, from Ghana, who told those at Friday's service how the Japanese fought 'like devils'. They were the civilian prisoners caught up in the conflict, such as Olga Henderson, 93, who spent her childhood 118 people to a hut with one toilet. 'There was quite a lot of disease, and your head was full of creepy-crawlies,' she said. 'We used to get these little baby snails and then just break the shell. And we could chew that all day and think we're eating something.' There were those who struggle still with the memory. 'There's only one thing I think about to be honest,' Bernard Francis Madden told the audience — which included the King, the Queen, Sir Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch. 'I killed 20 Japanese. That preys on my mind.' Then there were the thousands of scared and brave men, such as Tom Jones, 103. He recalled in a pre-recorded message how, 'I saw this Japanese officer, he got his sword and he's running straight at me and I'm thinking to myself, this is my last day.' The only reason it wasn't was that a Gurkha shot the attacker. But now, they are rare. After an appeal by the Royal British Legion, only 33 veterans could make the event. One could not. Eighty years after Jones thought he had seen his last day, he finally did. On Thursday, after recording his message, he died. And there was one fewer living link to the war. So it was that in heat that might have been more worrying for the centenarians had many of them not previously endured months hacking through the jungles of Burma, the nation honoured in the words of the King, the 'courage and camaraderie displayed in humanity's darkest hour'. Three months earlier, many of the same dignitaries had met in the same place to remember VE Day. Friday's ceremony, outdoors and on the Armed Forces Memorial, was different. It was different partly because the war in the east was more global. CHRISTOPHER FURLONG/PA Ben Okri, the poet, gave a reading in honour of the Empire troops. 'It was not really their quarrel, but those who fought had heard a higher call that said it's worth dying to stop the world being turned to hell,' he said. One of those Empire troops was Yavar Abbas, 104, from the 11th Sikh Regiment. He read from his diary, in which he had written of being sniped at at 30 yards and comrades falling beside him. But before beginning, he apologised, 'for briefly going off the script to salute my brave King, who is here with his beloved Queen in spite of the fact that he is undergoing treatment for cancer.' He too, he said, had had cancer. 'I salute him for attending this occasion. By his presence here he has gone a long way to make sure that his Grandad's 14th army is never given the sobriquet of the forgotten army.' On returning to the royal box, they saluted each other and spoke for almost a minute. There was something else that marked the ceremony out. Thousands of miles away in Tokyo, Japan's prime minister became the first in over a decade to use the word 'remorse' to mark the anniversary. 'We will never ever make a mistake in choosing the path to take,' Shigeru Ishiba said. 'The remorse and lessons from that war should once again be engraved deeply in our hearts. TOLGA AKMEN/EPA It was the first time since 2012 that a Japanese premier used the word at the ceremony, which is held to mourn the 3.1 million casualties of war in Japan. A moment of silence was observed at midday, exactly 80 years after Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration in a radio broadcast. The four-and-a-half-minute address by the emperor, delivered a few days after the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and replayed from a scratchy phonograph recording, stunned the nation in 1945, when Hirohito said that 'the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage'. After the Red Arrows streamed over the royal box, and before the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight flew over at a more stately pace, there was a final word from Jones — the final words, as it turned out, of his life. 'As far as war is concerned,' he said in the video, 'there's no pride and no glory. So, forget war and pick peace.'
BBC News
15 hours ago
- BBC News
'Big Table volunteers feed the spirit as well as the body'
The selfless efforts of a group of volunteers who combine their efforts to provide a weekly community lunch have been praised for their "spirit of welcome and inclusion".The Big Table initiative was set up at Cathedral Isle of Man, in Peel, almost a decade ago, offering a three-course meal for no set June, the team behind the project became the first recipients of the inaugural cathedral volunteer of the year server Carol Fox said: "We come every Monday, to not only feed the body, but feed the spirit and enjoy each other's company." The award was presented to those involved in the project by Anna Pitt, executive director for the Association of English Cathedrals, earlier this said the judges "couldn't ignore" the Isle of Man's nomination, adding they were "so impressed by the work that they're doing" they had wanted to see it first-hand."When we had all the nominations through, what we saw was hundreds and hundreds of accumulated volunteer hours that were being given across the year," she said."These awards are our opportunity to really acknowledge that volunteers in churches and cathedrals are the lifeblood that keep the doors open, and keep that spirit of welcome in these places." Held in Corrin Hall in the cathedral grounds every Monday, the ethos of The Big Table project is one of is welcome to join in, and is asked to pay only what they feel they can Dean the Very Reverend Nigel Godfrey said the policy ensured the lunches attracted "a huge variety of different people".He said poverty on the Isle of Man was "sometimes very hidden", and the nature of the project meant it could support those in need of assistance, while also allowing other members of the community to help with funding to keep the lunches going."There are people here who might be in dire need, and other people who are quite well off, so it's a mix," he explained. Peter Girdler said he had become involved after attending the lunches following the death of his recalled offering to help on one occasion after being told they were "a little short-staffed", and has now become part of the close-knit team in the said: "We all know what we're doing - it's a very small in the kitchen, and there's quite a bit of work involved."I was going to say it keeps me out of mischief, but no, it doesn't – it keeps me in it!"At the helm in the kitchen is Fenella Costain, who draws up the menu each week, ensuring a wide variety of meals are served throughout the not a trained chef, she said, "I do like cooking and I love good food, and it's just grown from there".Receiving the award was a real achievement given the scope of the competition, she added."The fact that it's a national award for all the cathedrals in the UK - I think it's absolutely incredible that our little Big Table in the little Isle of Man has won an award out of every cathedral in the UK. "It's fantastic!" Chef Costain's delight at the award is echoed by fellow volunteer David Eastaff, who said the whole team was "very proud"."It's a lovely community," he said."It's just a wonderful thing that we do, I thoroughly enjoy it. And people keep coming back."Jackie Hughes, who has been involved for several years, and has the task of taking the orders each week, said there was a place for everyone in the team."Because of my hips I can't get round the tables like everyone else, but I enjoy doing it - we all club together," she said. Ms Fox, who got involved after attending one of the TT breakfasts held in the project's early days, said it "always felt like this was more than just a place to volunteer"."You could just volunteer any place and do a task - this is more than a task, this is coming and feeding the spirit as well as the body, and be in company and be in the presence of care for one another," she said."People do care about one another and that's the important thing." Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.
BBC News
16 hours ago
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Cambridgeshire WW2 veteran: 'We thought we were going home'
A World War Two veteran has described the disappointment he felt that successive victory celebrations did not mark the end of his Newman, 99, left home to serve with the Royal Navy in 1943 but would not return until 1947, two years after the end of the said he and his crew "thought we were going home" when Germany surrendered on 8 May 1945, but were instead sent to the Far East, where fighting would continue for a further three the 80th anniversary of VJ Day (Victory over Japan) at a flag-raising ceremony and remembrance service in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, he said it was important to remember those who never came home at all. "We're all sad that they never came back. For what they did out there, we truly thank them and I salute them all," he said. On VE Day, he was aboard his ship, near Malta."There was a buzz going round that something was going on, but we didn't know what, he said."We thought we were going home, but it didn't happen. We went out to the Far East. But you have to go where you're told."Mr Newman said he felt "disappointment" that he was not sent home, and "forgotten" while celebrations were under way in even the arrival of VJ Day on 15 August did not mean he and his crewmates could return home."Even when the war was over in 1945, it wasn't over for us," he said."We still had to go out minesweeping, and that took another couple of years."It was very dangerous, obviously. But the point is that the mines are there and they've got to be swept." Mr Newman, who served on HMS Moon, was stationed around the Mediterranean, North Africa and Asia in the years after VJ remembers helping restore British rule in Singapore in September 1945 in an operation led by Lord Louis Mountbatten. "That was quite thrilling. I think the main thing was that we were all going to meet Lord Mountbatten because he was in charge," he said."There was a march past and he gave a speech. He said, 'Well, come on lads, let's go and finish the job.'"Despite "fighting disease and the elements" while risking his life minesweeping, Mr Newman said he looked back fondly on his wartime service."I really liked being in the Royal Navy and I think most sailors did," he said."I don't know how the Army feels about it. Mealtimes were mealtimes and we got plenty to eat. I have memories I'll never forget." Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
