VJ80-2025: The War in the Far East, 1941-1945

2025 marks the 80th anniversaries of VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) on 8 May and VJ Day (Victory over Japan Day) on Friday 15 August 2025.  Thismarked the Japanese surrender, which in effect ended the Second World War, and was greeted with jubilation in the Allied nations.

The War against Japan had started on 7 December 1941 when he Japanese attacked the US navy in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  Just over 2 months later, there took place “Britain’s Greatest Defeat” on 15 February 1942 when Generals of the Allied forces surrendered the port of Singapore to the Japanese.  On VE Day 1945 the bitter war against Japan was still continuing – and would for another 2 months.

An estimated 100,000 Allied troops, including British, Australian, and Indian soldiers, were taken prisoner and suffered appalling and cruel treatment which lasted for  approximately three and a half years.  Most of them experienced stunned surprise when VJ occurred and those who survived – only 6,000 - took a long time to reach the UK when the celebrations were long “Forgotten” – and a great deal longer to recover from their ordeal.

Allied troops had learned lessons to defeat the Japanese in battle: their invasion of India was stopped at Kohima by Anglo-Indian troops on 22 June 1944.  The 14^th Army also learned to fight the Japanese on their own terms with the Chindits, but the war in Burma [now Myanmar] did not end until 13 September 1945 when the Japanese surrendered.

For people who did not live during the war, the dropping of Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki form 6-9 August 1945 which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 150,000 to 246,000 people, primarily civilians, has proved controversial.  Service people knew that, without that intervention, the Japanese would not have surrendered - and many more lives would have been lost.  On VJ Day, a new batch of personnel was on its way by sea to fight the Japanese.

Our now retired Town Crier, Mike Kean Price^[1], did not meet his soldier father, who was serving with the victorious Glosters in the 14^th Army until he was 5 years of age: his father did not return home until New Years Eve 1945.  He had lost his job which was only held open for 6 months after VE Day and, “even though the war was officially over, he still suffered from recurring malaria, requiring time off work when there was no sick pay. His health problems inevitably affected his moods and, for many years, relations between Mike and his father were strained. For so many, the war did not end on VE Day, 8 May 1945” – nor evenon VJ Day.

These surviving veterans have always called themselves the “Forgotten Army”. I can only hope that  on VJ Day 80 on the weekend of 15 August 2025, we prove they were not forgotten.

The following local people died fighting the Japanese:

Name	Rank	Service	Place	Date
Andrews, Adolphus H.*	Private	Army	Apperley	15-Feb-1942
Bartlett, Ronald W. E.*	Gunner	Army	Tewkesbury	01-Jan-1942
Bassett, Jack*	Sapper	Army	Tewkesbury	27-Sep-1943
Hawker, Arthur William*	L/Cpl.	Army	Apperley	05-May-1944
Morris, Edward Henry*	Lieutenant	Army	Twyning	09-Apr-1946
Shephard, William J. H.*	Captain Major	Army	Tewkesbury	17-Jan-1944

[I am lucky to have for a daughter-in-law, a lovely Japanese girl.  Although she is well-educated, she knows nothing of this history – as she was never allowed to learn it during her schooling.  Today the state of Japan is actively allied to Britain and the USA.]

[This article was published in Tewkesbury Direct July 2025]