Latest news with #NationalMemorialArboretum
The Sun
a day ago
- General
- The Sun
Harry's secret letter to late grandfather Prince Philip REVEALED after pal left note on his behalf
A SECRET letter written by Prince Harry to his late grandfather has been revealed. The Duke of Sussex, 40, paid a heartfelt tribute to Prince Philip in a note left at the National Memorial Arboretum on the 80th anniversary of VJ Day. 8 8 8 The father-of-two trusted one of his pals to place it down alongside a wreath of red poppies at the Burma Star Memorial in Staffordshire on Friday. As reported by GB News, the note was left after King Charles and Queen Camila paid their respects. VJ Day, commemorated annually on August 15, marks the anniversary of Japan's surrender to the Allies after the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Harry, who did not attend but stayed at his home in California, wrote: "For me, this anniversary carries an added layer of meaning. "My late grandfather, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, served in the Pacific campaign. "He spoke with quiet humility about those years, but I know how deeply he respected all who stood beside him in that theatre of war. "Today, as I think of him, I think also of each of you, of the shared hardships, the bonds forged, and the legacy you leave." Prince Philip was in Tokyo Bay on the destroyer HMS Whelp, a warship he served on as second-in-command, when Japanese officials formally signed the surrender on the USS Missouri. King Charles did not mention his father's experience during his audio address to the nation on Friday morning. However he remembered his great uncle Earl Mountbatten, who was the Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia Command. Charles & Camilla weep at VJ Day ceremony as veteran goes off script with royal tribute before telling of horrors he saw_1 Harry's letter, which was addressed to the "Forgotten Army", read: "On this 80th anniversary of VJ Day, we pause to remember the day the guns finally fell silent across the world, the true end of the Second World War. "We also pause to recognise you, the men and women of the 'Forgotten Army,' whose courage and endurance in the Far East campaign were anything but forgettable. "You faced an enemy determined to the last, fought in unforgiving terrain, and endured months, even years, far from home, in conditions most could scarcely imagine. "Your service in the jungles and mountains of Burma and beyond was marked by grit, unity, and sacrifice. 8 8 8 "It is because of that sacrifice that generations since, myself included, have been able to live in freedom. "From the lessons of that bitter struggle came the understanding that even the fiercest of foes can, in time, become valued partners in peace. "Today, as both our nations mark this anniversary, we acknowledge the respect earned, the lives lost and the enduring friendship that has since taken root." The duke added: "I am humbled by your example, proud of your service and dedication, and profoundly grateful for what you endured. "Your story is part of our shared heritage, and it must never be forgotten. With the deepest respect, thank you." The letter was signed "Harry", Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. Harry was reportedly left saddened in 2020 when he was not allowed to leave a wreath on Remembrance Sunday in the wake of Megxit. And just months later he was stripped of his military patronages by his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II after his decision to step down as a senior working royal. 8 8
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
SARAH VINE: My grandfather bore the scars of war with Japan. I wish I'd listened to him more wisely
Friday'S VJ Day 80th anniversary commemorations at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire may have been overshadowed in budget and scale by those to mark D-Day and VE Day in May – but they were no less moving. In the presence of the King and Queen, the few surviving witnesses of that 'forgotten war', fought against the Japanese in the mosquito-infested jungles of Burma, gave their testimonies on a giant screen.
Times
3 days ago
- General
- 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.'
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
King Charles leads 80th VJ Day commemoration in UK
King Charles led VJ Day commemorations in the UK as a national service of remembrance and two-minute silence marked the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender in the second world war and the end of the six-year-long conflict. He was joined by the queen, the prime minister, Keir Starmer, and veterans who served in the far east theatres of war as wreaths were laid at the National Memorial Arboretum service in Staffordshire. Powerful testimonies read aloud reminded of the terrible cost of war, while a flypast featured the Red Arrows and historic second world war aircraft, including a Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster bomber. Guests of honour included 33 veterans aged from 96 to 105. A Royal Navy veteran, Alfred Conway, from Lincolnshire, watched as his great granddaughter laid a wreath on the Burma railway memorial at the arboretum. George Durrant, who served in the intelligence corps, appeared on stage to urge people not to forget the sacrifices made by his comrades. In Japan, Emperor Naruhito spoke of his 'deep remorse' on the anniversary and said he felt 'a deep and renewed sense of sorrow' in a sombre speech in an indoor arena in the centre of the Japanese capital. A visit by two cabinet ministers to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo angered countries that suffered Japanese military atrocities, particularly China and South Korea, AFP reported. The shrine, which the country's Asian neighbours view as a symbol of Japan's wartime aggression, honours 2.5 million mostly Japanese soldiers who perished since the late 19th century but also enshrines convicted war criminals. Japan's prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, a political moderate, sent a customary offering to Yasukuni, according to Kyodo news. No Japanese prime minister has visited the shrine since 2013, when a trip by then-premier Shinzo Abe sparked fury in Beijing and Seoul. China's foreign ministry on Friday summoned the chief minister of Japan's embassy in China, Yokochi Akira, to lodge solemn representations over Japanese politicians visiting the war shrine, according to a ministry statement, Reuters reported. In an audio message before the national service of remembrance to the nation, realms and Commonwealth, Charles spoke of allied prisoners of war 'who endured years of brutal captivity: the starvation, disease and cruelty that tested the very limits of human endurance' and the 'mental and physical scars' the war left on those who survived. He vowed the service and sacrifice of VJ Day heroes 'shall never be forgotten'. In what is believed to be the most direct reference by a British monarch to the suffering in Hiroshima and Nagasaki after their atomic bombings, he said: 'We should also pause to acknowledge that in the war's final act, an immense price was paid by the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – a price we pray no nation need ever pay again.' More than 90,000 British troops were casualties in the war against Japan, and nearly 30,000 died according to the Royal British Legion, while more than 12,000 Britons were among the 190,000 Commonwealth troops held as prisoners of war by the Japanese. Of the Allied forces, the US suffered the greatest losses, with more than 100,000 killed in action. In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, more than 200,000 people were killed by the US bombs and in the months after succumbing to radiation sickness, the effects of burns and other serious injuries. Hundreds of buildings across the UK were due to be lit up on Friday evening to mark VJ Day 80, including Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing Street, the Houses of Parliament, the Tower of London, Tower 42, the Shard, Blackpool Tower, Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Durham Cathedral, Cardiff Castle, the Cenotaph and the White Cliffs of Dover.
The Australian
4 days ago
- General
- The Australian
UK king, Starmer lead VJ Day tributes to WWII veterans, survivors
King Charles III led commemorations Friday for World War II veterans and those who lived through the devastating conflict, lauding their "courage" as Britain marked the 80th anniversary of VJ Day. Charles and Queen Camilla were joined by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, other dignitaries and dozens of veterans at a remembrance service for Victory over Japan day at the National Memorial Arboretum in central England. The trio laid wreaths and floral tributes at the memorial, before attendees and others across the country observed two minutes' silence at noon to mark the eight decades since Japan surrendered. The 33 veterans at the service, which also featured flypasts by the Red Arrows acrobatic display team and WWII-era aircraft, all served in East Asia and the Pacific, and are now aged from 96 to 105. In an audio message released ahead of the poignant event, Charles vowed the "service and sacrifice" of those who "saw the forces of liberty prevail" will "never be forgotten". "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," he said in the six-minute address. "Let us therefore pledge to be vigilant guardians of the values they bequeathed to us." Charles met some of the veterans at the Arboretum before joining them and their families at a reception hosted by the Royal British Legion armed forces charity. Some WWII survivors also played a role in Friday's televised ceremony, with army veteran Owen Filer reading the dedication written on the Kohima Epitaph laid in memory of the 1944 Battle of Kohima in southeast Asia. "When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today," the 103-year-old said. - War's true cost' - Other remembrance events took place around the UK, including at the Tower of London, at Belfast City Hall and in Edinburgh -- where a lone piper played on the battlements of the city's castle. In his message to the nation, the king linked WWII with "conflicts around the world today", arguing it remained a reminder that "war's true cost extends beyond battlefields, touching every aspect of life". WWII veterans "proved that, 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". Ahead of Friday's commemorations, Starmer held Thursday a special reception for veterans at Downing Street. At the event, he recalled hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky there Thursday morning, adding Ukraine's leader is "fighting for the same values as we were fighting for". "Our country owes a great debt to those who fought for a better future, so we could have the freedoms and the life we enjoy today," Starmer told those gathered. "We must honour that sacrifice with every new generation." In his audio message, Charles also urged recognition of the devastation caused by the atomic bombings of Japan, which led the country's Emperor Hirohito to announce its unconditional surrender to the Allies. That came nine days after the first bomb was dropped. "We should also pause to acknowledge that in the war's final act, an immense price was paid by the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- a price we pray no nation need ever pay again," the UK king said. August 15, 1945, signalled the end of the six-year-long war, though VJ Day is celebrated on September 2 in the United States, marking the date the official surrender documents were signed. In mainland China, it is celebrated on September 3. In Japan on Friday, Emperor Naruhito spoke of his "deep remorse", as tens of thousands of people braved blazing heat to pay their respects at Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni Shrine. It honours 2.5 million mostly Japanese soldiers who perished since the late 19th century, but also enshrines convicted war criminals. jj/jkb/phz
