VJ Day commemoration in Axminster

The 75th anniversary of Victory over Japan was marked in Axminster on Saturday with a special service on the Minster Green attended by between 40 and 50 people.

The service was conducted by the Father Geoffery Walsh, chaplain to the Axminster branch of the Royal British Legion.

Father Walsh, an ex-Royal Navy caplain, told the gathering: "We have come together this weekend to commemorate the 75th anniversary of VJ Day, the day when Japan announced its surrender to the Allies, bringing an end to the Second World War.

"As we remember the many soldiers, sailors, and airmen who gave their lives restraining evil and opposing tyranny, and the nurses who were caring for our injured, so we also come in thanksgiving for the years of relative peace that the nations of the world have enjoyed since the Second World War.

"We gather joyfully today, as those who gathered on that first VJ Day, glad of each other's company, and grateful for the laughter and love that follows times of sadness and loss."

A wreath was laid on behalf of the Royal British Legion by Valerie Warner, widow of David Warner, the former chairman of the Axminster branch, who sadly died earlier this year of covid-19. A number of crosses remembering family members who served in the Far East were also laid at the war memorial.

Father Walsh also delivered the Exhortation and the Last Post was played by Andrew Stark.

The event was organised on behalf of the Axminster branch of the Royal British Legion by former mayor Mervyn Symes.

• While VE Day marked the end of the war in Europe on May 14 1945, many thousands of Armed Forces personnel were still involved in bitter fighting in the Far East.

Victory over Japan would come at a heavy price, and Victory over Japan Day (VJ Day) marks the day Japan surrendered on August 14 1945, which in effect ended the Second World War.

Although the Japanese surrendered on August 14 1945 liberation from the civilian internment camps differed widely. In February 1945 the American forces stormed the camp at Santo Tomas in Manila and liberated all the internees. Others had to wait weeks or months after the Japanese surrender – it was November 1945 before the last group of women and children, in Aik Pamienke in Java, were liberated