VJ day 70 years on

Today is the 70th anniversary of VJ day and the end of the Second World War

It is a time to remember all those of every nation who died during that terrible conflict, civilians and service people alike, but particularly those who fought and died to protect civilisation from some of the worst evil regimes in history.

Those Germans and Japanese people who were not even born at the time of the war are not to blame for what their ancestors did, but equally we must not forget what a monstrous threat the former governments of those countries posed to all their neighbours and, indeed, to those decent German and Japanese people who dared to oppose them.

And when we say "Never Again" it must mean that we must never again allow the countries of the free world to be as badly prepared to stand up to aggression as we were in the 1930s.

Today should be, above all, a day when we remember those of whom 92-year-old veteran John Giddings, who fought in the Far East, spoke when he read the words of the Kohima epitaph:


"When you go home tell them of us, and say

For your tomorrow we gave our today".

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