A SOCIALLY DISTANCED service to commemorate the 75th anniversary of VJ (Victory over Japan) Day and the end of the Second World War was held at Llandudno war memorial over the weekend.

On Saturday morning, the Llandudno branch of The Royal British Legion, who organised the event, were joined by the Lord Lieutenant of Clwyd Henry Fetherstonhaugh, Mayor of Llandudno Cllr Angie O’Grady, Robin Millar MP and Janet Finch-Saunders, MS for Aberconwy.

Veterans and representatives of local veterans’ associations were also in attendance.

Peter Kingston, Chairman of Llandudno branch RBL, said: “For many months we have been engaged in planning a large event to mark VJ Day with veterans of the Far East campaign, serving military personnel, re-enactors, vintage vehicles and displays. Unfortunately, this had to be cancelled due to Covid, but we were determined not to let the 75th anniversary pass without a small ceremony.”

Prayers for peace were led by Reverend Beverley Ramsden while standard bearers stood smartly to attention, standards blowing gently in the warm breeze.

Adrian Hughes of the Home Front Museum paid tribute to the sixteen sons of Llandudno who fell in the South East Asian campaign with the following: “Between December 1941 and August 1945, British troops fought a bitter war against the Japanese across Asia. The fighting took place in malaria-ridden jungles during monsoon rains and on remote islands in searing tropical heat. The Japanese were a tenacious and often brutal enemy.

"At the fall of Singapore tens of thousands of Allied servicemen became prisoners of the Japanese. They were subjected to a regime of violence, neglect and forced labour. The enemy, not only the Japanese guards, but deadly tropical diseases that swept through the camps. Malaria was a key problem. Dysentery, typhus, beri-beri and ulcers killed thousands more. Five Llandudno men died while incarcerated by the Japanese; Fred Reading of Mostyn Street, Donald Sargent of Bryniau Road, Frank Limacher of Water Street, Gwynfryn Edwards of Taliesin Street and Albert Shaw of Pant-y-Ffrith on the Great Orme.

"From 1942, prisoners were forced to build the Burma-Thailand railway, which became known as the ‘Death Railway’ for its high mortality rate including Arthur Tonge of Bryniau Road.

"The testimonies of those who survived the camps and returned home is heart breaking. Signaller Billie Parry of Jubilee Street went ‘out East’ weighing 11 and a half stone and returned weighing less than 7. The food allowance was just 9 ounces of rice per man per day, the same as one microwavable rice pouch. He caught snakes, lizards and frogs to supplement this meagre ration. He was force marched over 180 miles through the jungle to work on the ‘Death Railway’ and after his boots wore through, he toiled barefoot until they bled.

"Nine Llandudno lads died in combat. The youngest was just 17-years-old. George Gibbs was serving aboard HMS Repulse when she was sunk by Japanese bombers in 1941; a second Llandudno sailor, Douglas Newall, died on the same battlecruiser. Roy Hoddell served with the Royal Air Force, Arthur Edwards, George Derbyshire, David Vernon Jones and Glyn Jones all killed in action in the Forgotten war – forgotten because its operations were largely overlooked by the contemporary press and remained so for long after the war.

"Gwilym Evans, Fred Williams and Thomas Ratcliffe all died during the viscous fighting at Kohima - a turning point of the war and the subsequent Japanese defeat. This was a battle that claimed the lives of over 4000 British servicemen and in a cemetery close by stands a memorial with the epitaph 'When you go home tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow we gave our today'."