V J day

[badgerx16]

Today is the 80th anniversary of the end of World War 2, the announcement of Japan's surrender by the Emperor.

The men of the "forgotten" 14th Army, and the suffering of the tens of thousands of prisoners taken by the Japanese, always seem to be over shadowed by VE day. Remember them along with all the service men and women of the other theatres of that war around the globe.

 

[Sarnia Cherie]

One of my Dad's favourite programmes was This Is Your Life presented by Eamonn Andrews. A British commanding officer of a Japanese prisoner of war camp was the subject of the programme and my Dad was shocked to see a fellow bus driver come on as a guest. He had never spoken of his dreadful experiences. Let's remember them today.

[OldNick]

To this day Japan has not apologised for their actions. Despicable. There was an antique/secondhand dealer  who was a survivor of the Jap camp, he had the foresite to around the camp in the early days and get all the paper books he could find and sold it as toilet paper as the dysentry took hol. The proceeds he could buy stuff to survive off the guards

 

[whelk]

Japanese such a disciplined, polite and respectful people as a rule, but were sadistic bastards in the war. My dad and older generations never forgave their despicable brutality.

Edited August 15 by whelk

[Hamilton Saint]

2 hours ago, whelk said:

Japanese such a disciplined, polite and respectful people as a rule, but were sadistic bastards in the war. My dad and older generations never forgave their despicable brutality.

My father was with the Royal Engineers in the Iraqi desert assembling lorries, which then got driven north to the Eastern Front. His brother, meanwhile, fought with the British infantry in Burma, fighting against the Japanese. He was traumatised by his experiences and never spoke about them after the war.

[Whitey Grandad]

My mum's eldest brother, my uncle, was out in the jungle in Burma. Back home he would wake up in the night screaming "get off me". He said that in the dark at night in hand to hand fighting they didn't know if they were fighting their mates or the Japanese. 

[Gloucester Saint]

6 hours ago, whelk said:

Japanese such a disciplined, polite and respectful people as a rule, but were sadistic bastards in the war. My dad and older generations never forgave their despicable brutality.

My grandfather, a Southampton docker and Army boxing champion, was a POW on the Burma railway. He hated them with a passion, chased a Japanese chef off a vessel in the docks after the war. As Nick said, Hirohito was a scumbag of the highest order for never apologising. 

No reflection on the current Japanese generation of course but the UK state visit 1980s by Hirohito stuck in our family’s craw. 

[AlexLaw76]

A friend of my Gran was a PoW over there. Remember mum telling me for nearly the rest of his life when home, he could not be anywhere near someone from Japan, the hatred was just so deep.

He wrote a book about his time in the Army, did not sell many, but it is a fairly interesting read.

[Badger]

19 hours ago, Gloucester Saint said:

As Nick said, Hirohito was a scumbag of the highest order for never apologising. 

No reflection on the current Japanese generation of course but the UK state visit 1980s by Hirohito stuck in our family’s craw. 

I recall this being captured on the front page of Private Eye, with a picture of a  plane landing at Heathrow and the caption “There’s a nasty nip in the air”.

 

[Badger]

18 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

A friend of my Gran was a PoW over there. Remember mum telling me for nearly the rest of his life when home, he could not be anywhere near someone from Japan, the hatred was just so deep.

He wrote a book about his time in the Army, did not sell many, but it is a fairly interesting read.

My father told me the story in the 1970’s of an old boy he knew who’d been a POW under the Japanese. He was walking along in pissing rain when a friend pulled up, and called him “jump in Frank, I’ll give you a lift”

Got in the car and usual conversation over the friends new car, this is nice, what is it? .. oh where do they come from ?”.

When told Japan, he immediately threw up, and insisted they stop the car, and he’d walk. Couldn’t stomach the thought of being back in close proximity to something Japanese. 

 

Edited August 16 by Badger

[badgerx16]

With all the above experiences taken into account, the memory passed down to me was simply thst when my Grandfather got home from the far east it wa August 1946, and all anybody had to say was "Where have you been ?".

[Badger]

Final comment, really feel for those in what was described as the forgotten war. Although many aren’t around for the anniversary, even the events yesterday were far lower key than commemorations for D-Day and VE Day. 

[sadoldgit]

There is currently a harrowing drama on BBC on Sunday nights based on the book The Long Road To The Deep North. The story jumps about in time but the central character was a POW involved in the building of the Burma-Thai railway.

Having grown up hearing about things like the Holocaust and the brutality of the Japanese in WW2 I just assumed that other generations were taught about it in school too. I was surprised to hear that my wife, who was born in 1966, knew nothing about the brutality of the Japanese against POWs in WW2.

There are various bits of history that should be compulsory teaching for all children. These things should never be forgotten.