I learnt of horrors and heroism from Mountbatten, King says in VJ Day tribute

Telegraph

2 days ago

The King has spoken proudly of the role his great uncle, Lord Mountbatten, played in the final throes of the Second World War as he marked the 80th anniversary of VJ Day on Friday.
In a six-minute audio address to the nation, His Majesty paid a heartfelt tribute to the 'courage and camaraderie displayed in humanity's darkest hour'.
And he described how much he had learnt from Lord Louis Mountbatten, his great-uncle, who headed the Allied Forces' South East Asia Command and in September 1945, received the Japanese surrender at Singapore.
The King also spoke of the horrors faced by innocent civilian populations of occupied territories, a tragedy, he noted, that was 'all too vividly demonstrated by conflicts around the world today'.
Of those who fought against the Japanese in the Pacific and the Far East, he said their joining of forces across 'vast distances, faiths and cultural divides' remained 'a vital lesson for our times'.
Later on Friday morning, the King and Queen were to join Sir Keir Starmer at a service of remembrance at the National Memorial Arboretum, where some 1,500 guests will hear moving first-hand testimony from those who served.
The guests of honour will be 33 veterans, aged from 96 to 105, who fought in the Far East and Pacific. As their numbers dwindle, this milestone anniversary will be all the more poignant.
The King's audio message echoed the one his grandfather, George VI, delivered to the nation on August 15 1945, when he declared: 'The war is over.'
'Seldom can a simple message have resonated with such a potent mix of relief, celebration, and sorrow for those who never lived to see the glow of freedom's new dawn,' Charles said.
'On this day of profound remembrance, I speak to you in that same spirit of commemoration and celebration as we honour anew all those whose service and sacrifice saw the forces of liberty prevail.'
Lord Mountbatten, once described by the then Prince Charles as 'the grandfather I never had', joined the Royal Navy in 1916 and served in both world wars.
In October 1943, he was appointed Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command, with responsibilities stretching from India and Sri Lanka to Burma, Malaya and Indo-China. He was murdered on August 27 1979 when the IRA detonated a bomb on his family's boat in the harbour of Mullaghmore, north west Ireland.
'A toll measured not only in gravestones'
The King said of the battle in the Pacific: 'While that final victory… was achieved under the strategic command of our steadfast American allies, the war in South East Asia had reached its climax under the leadership of my great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten, from whom I learnt so much about the particular horrors and heroism witnessed in those furthest fields of combat.
'The forces aligned under him comprised over one million men and women, drawn from many different countries, religions and communities, but united by common purpose and indomitable spirit.
'Twenty-nine Victoria Crosses bear eloquent testimony to their valour, but I know full well of the toll it took on so many – measured not only in gravestones, but in the mental and physical scars of those who survived.'
The King acknowledged that those who fought on in Asia for three months as the UK celebrated Germany's surrender sometimes considered themselves 'the Forgotten Army'.
However, as patron of the Burma Star Memorial Fund, he recalled accompanying his great uncle in 1978 to the its annual reunion at the Albert Hall, which was 'filled with thousands of bemedalled veterans'.
'It has been my privilege to reassure the remaining veterans that they and their fallen comrades shall never be forgotten,' he said.
But the King's overriding message was one of peace. Perhaps mindful of the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, he urged listeners across the UK, the realms and the Commonwealth to learn the lessons of the past, warning that collaboration was more powerful than any arms.
'In times of war and in times of peace, the greatest weapons of all are not the arms you bear, but the arms you link,' he said.
'So to the families of all those who served, and to that sadly dwindling band of veterans among us still, please know that the courage and camaraderie displayed in humanity's darkest hour is a flame that shall blaze for eternity – a beacon that honours our past and guides our future.
'Let us therefore pledge to be vigilant guardians of the values they bequeathed to us.'