King Charles III and Queen Camilla have joined the two veterans for a memory service to mark the 80th anniversary of VJ Day.
Now some 33 men aged between 96 and 105, who served in the Army in the Far East and Pacific, were guests of honor in the National Memorial Arborate in Staffordshire.
The RAF’s red arrow and the national two -minute silence characterized by a flypast, a wreath was laid by the royal couple.
The incident heard accounts and memories from the veterans and citizens caught in the war. Earlier, the king issued an audio message in which he received the title of courage and sacrifice of the veterans.
Win on VJ Day, or Japan Day, is remembered on 15 August every year and marked on the date in 1945 when Japan surrendered to the armies of the friendly countries, ending the World War Two after nearly six years.
The UK and Commonwealth’s estimated 71,000 soldiers were fighting in the war against Japan, including 12,000 prisoners of the war held in Japanese captivity.
The events to celebrate the 80th anniversary will end in the autumn with a reception for veterans at Windsor Castle later.
PA mediaActress Celia Imi told the story of war in the Far East in service, as the experiences of the participants were told on the individual and screen.
Lincolnshire’s Royal Navy veteran Alfred Conway noticed that his great -grandfather had a garland on the Burma Thailand railway memorial in the arboretum.
And George Durant, who served in Intelligence Corps, appeared on stage with his pardoti as he urged people not to forget the sacrifices made by their peers.
There was also a tribute to the poet Sir Ben Okri, who focused on the contribution of soldiers admitted from countries in the British Commonwealth to fight in Burma (now Myanmar).
The event ended with a flypate by two-era aircraft of the historic World War, including the Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster Bomber.
A reception was then held, where the king and the queen met the veterans and their families.
Roots
PA mediaIn a six -minute audio message released before service, the king swear that those who fought in the Pacific and the Far East and died, “never forget”.
He started by reflecting the moment 80 years ago that his grandfather, King George VI announced the nation and the Commonwealth that the war was over.
The king said, “Millions of families gathered around their wireless sets, and were still serving away from home for their loved ones, it was a fight that had long prayed for a battle-fed world,” the king said.
He said that he was “speaking in the same spirit of memory and celebration because we honor all those whose service and sacrifice saw the forces of freedom”.
The king also talked about the forces of the British, Commonwealth and Friends countries, who fought for months after the war ended in Europe.
The soldiers came to be known as the “forgotten army”, as people in Britain were focusing more on events in Europe, where the fight ended in May.
He talked about the prisoners of the war, who tolerated the terrible circumstances in the Japanese captivity – and all the “serious difficulties” were faced by the innocent citizens of the occupied areas.
“His experience reminds us that the true cost of war extends beyond the battlefields, touching every aspect of life – today a tragedy is clearly displayed by the struggles around the world.”
The king also accepted the “immense value” paid by the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where more than 200,000 people died as a result of the US atomic bomb blasts in August 1945 – some immediate explosions and other radiation disease and later burnt.
He said that this was a price that we pray that no nation needs to be paid again “.
The king said: “But remembering so much pain, we should not lose sight of how great it was and how sweet victory.”
He also said that cited cooperation in beliefs and cultural division, it has been said: “Together he proved that, in the time of war and in peace, the biggest weapons of all are not the weapons you have tolerated, but weapons you have linked weapons.
“This is an important lesson for our time.”
He said that “the courage and comradery displayed in the dark hours of humanity is a flame that would be a blast for eternity – a beach that respects our past and guides our future”.
A message posted on social media by Wales’s prince and princess praised the “courage, sacrifice and flexibility” of those who fought in Pacific and the Far East, stating: “We give a permanent loan to the generation that gave a lot.”
The VJ Day monument began on Thursday with a sunset ceremony at Memorial Gates at Green Park in Central London, which paid tribute to Commonwealth personnel, who died and died in the Far East.
After the Dawn broke on Friday, the British military bagpipers played the ‘Far East Khand of the National Memorial Arboratum and the Ore of Lamant Battle in Edinburgh Castle – as well as riding in HMS Prince of Nepal, Brunei, New Zealand, Japan and Wales, currently in the sea in the Far East.
A piper also performed at a Japanese peace garden in West London to reflect the harmony between UK and Japan in decades since the war ended.
