V J Day
 

Today is V J Day (Victory over Japan). Officially there are only small comemorative services here as we had one national day of remembrance for both VE & VJ Days.
I'll be silent for two minutes at mid-day, please show your own respects in the same way for the men of the "Forgotten War".

Re: V J Day
 

Hi Dave (and Chrissie :) )

I've seen some footage and interviews with Vets on TV ... and as always, am so incredibly moved, and sad, and oh so many other things.

Karmen

Hi

TV? Bah!! Historychannel is calling it "Victory in Japan" Day!! I hadn't realized we invaded the Japanese home islands. :eek: "Victory over Japan must not be PC. Maybe we should apologize to Japan for that, huh?

Stupid TV. Mutter, mutter, mutter...................... :D

regards
D:)

there were some pretty big celerbrations here with a train load of old diggers going north to Townsville as a re-enactment of their journey all those years ago.

Was nice to see but as one old digger said. "in 10 years time how many of us will still be here'.

cliff:salute:

VP Day
 

It's been huge here - I was in Canberra over the weekend with the Yass crew and was privileged to drive their Ford Ute in the parade which had a large contingent of CMPs:) .Chris drove "Tickets".
There were also some spectacular air displays over Lake Burley Griffin with such aircraft as P51, P40, Spitfire, Tiger Moth, Vampire, Meteor, Canberra, 02A, Catalina, C47, Caribou, Huey, FA18, F111, P3 Orion, PC9s as well as many choppers including the Chinook and Squirrels.
Tons of vehicles as well - even a Stuart and Greyhound.
I'm in Sydney away from my computer but hope to post some later in the week.

As 60 years ago, the interest for VJ-Day in Holland is pretty low. Not much in the press, other than an article about the Netherlands now "politically and morally" accepting 17 August 1945 as Indonesia's Independence Day. Until now, it was formally 27 December 1949, after a bloody battle over Indonesia's sovereignty.

I particularly commemorate my grandmother, who died after the war from enfeeblement due to her stay in the Japanese internment camp.

H.

Hanno:
Have you ever posted your life's history here? If I remember correctly, you came from the NEI area. If not too painful maybe you can fill us in if you have not already done so.
Cheers
Bill

VP Day Adelaide
 

Hi all
Our Society also participated in these celebrations at a function at Torrens Parade Ground. You may notice it is called VP Day here, that's for the politically correct police who preferred Victory in the Pacific instead of Victory over Japan.
Bob

Ah Hanno ... my heart goes out to your Grandmother and all of you for what she went through ... I wish I could bring your Grandmother back, healthy and happy, to experience being your grandma and your kids great grandma ... and simply to do a life as she would have had those experiences not messed with her destiny ... but I can't ... what I can do is just say ... she lives through your and your kids, and their kids.

As ever ... it's the human family and loved ones relationships hurt by wars that get me deepest :(

Hugs and love to you and yours,

Karmen

The one thing I did notice of VJ Day was a photo of vets riding in a vehicle, Ottawa I think it was, and either the indifferent photographer (most likely) or lazy copy editor had a cutline describing them as riding in a jeep. It was, I believe, a Dodge WC or its kin. Typical. It's the same when they refer to any armoured vehicle, with or without tracks, as a "tank." They don't know and they don't care.

Or am I not up to date on accepted nomenclature?

I also had a moment's thought about that "Victory 'in' Japan" on History Ch. - sounds like creeping PC, which is why they have to bring up the internments as often as possible (or was that just the CBC?) - though I suppose the victorious detonation of two nukes was 'in' Japan.

Just a quick comment to those PC-ers who continually criticize the internment of Japanese Canadians and the use of atomic bombs ON Japan......how the Allies prosecuted the war on Japan and the Japanese was in direct response to horrible atrocities perpetrated by the Japanese on the people they conquered. Perhaps the memories of Nanking and Hong Kong were a little sharper during the war than they are now. I recommend to any revisionist commentators that they should read some of the multitude of great books chronicling the IJA's criminal activities. One of my personal favourites is "Desperate Siege: The Battle of Hong Kong" by Ted Ferguson. The sacrifices of the Royal Rifles and the Winnipeg Grenadiers shall not be forgotten by this Canadian!

I was once sharply brought to task by a WW2 Veteran for calling it VP Day. He said "VP Day Bulls***! It's VJ Day 'cos we fought the bastard Japs! We never saw any Pacifists amongst 'em!"

Oficially, August 15 and 16 1945 were gazetted as public holidays in Australia to celebrate the cessation of hostilities. Aug 15 is technically known as VP day, and September 2 is VJ day as that is the date the signing of the surrrender treaty occurred on USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, oficially ending the war. Note that while Australia, Britain, Nationalist China, the US and the Netherlands signed the treaty, the USSR and the Communist Chinese were not signatories and have not oficially ended WW2, thus leading on to the Korean War which hasn't officially ended either, just come to a ceasefire. In memory of the exchange with that Veteran, I refer to the day as VJ Day.

Hi Tony, I'm sure that a lot of Australian vets have the same sort of horror stories to relate as do our Canadian vets. The Japanese's code of Bushido and the fact they never signed either the Hague or Geneva conventions led them to believe they could rape, torture and murder with impunity. I remember watching an Australian made movie years ago about an Aussie soldier witnessing the execution of many Australian P.O.W.'s. For the life of me I can't remember the name of the movie, but I do remember it was very moving.
I've been fortunate to see the U.S.S. Missouri three times, in Bremerton, Washington which used to be it's home port, in Vancouver, B.C. which is a favourite liberty port for U.S. sailors, and in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii where it now rests near the U.S.S. Arizona. Laid in the Surrender Deck, as they call it, is a large copper medallion made with a penny from each of the crewmen onboard the Missouri at the time of surrender. Also on display are the surrender documents, (replicas, I'm sure!) An amusing aside....the representative for the Canadian armed forces signed in the wrong place!
Now to the present....do I harbour ill will to the Japanese soldiers of WW II? Yes! It's my opinion that we break faith with both those who suffered at the hands of the IJA and their loved ones who had to cope with the loss of those who never returned and the rehabilitation of those who did. Do I harbour ill will towards present day Japanese service men? No! I served alongside Japanese soldiers when I was a member of CCUNDOF in the Golan Heights. I found them to be friendly, gracious, and very appreciative of any help they received. However, I've also been to a WW II re-enactment where there were 30 to 40 Japanese present. Before and after the battle they were fine...friendly. talkative, and very much interested in interacting with all the other re-enactors. But once they put on the IJA uniforms their demeanor changed drastically. They became sullen, quiet, and somewhat arrogant, especially the officers. were they just getting into their roles?......Perhaps. ..but I have this overwhelming feeling that there is something in the Japanese psyche that worships the warrior mentality and that present day Japanese civility is but a thin veneer.

PIcture
 

I often wonder what Japanese tourists think when they visit the AWM and see the life-size photograph of a Japanese about to behead an Australian. It would have to make them think...

There was a VJ day ceremonial here in Wpg today (with a few appropriate vehicles in attendance, BTW). Our reporter referred in the story only to victory in the Far East and war in the Far East - although there were some good quotes from vets who had been prisoners of the Japanese and family members. I got to write the headline on this one, so I made sure it read "Victory over Japan commemorated"

BTW, not long ago, my Member of Parliament was addressing a group of veterans, and, having had a relative who had suffered under the Japanese during the war, he got into what he figured was the spirit of things and remarked that "the Japs were bastards."Well, he got a fair bit of stick for that, some of the vets even said they were offended, so he made his apologies and the matter seems to have blown over - though, as he is a Conservative, I'm sure the Liberals (and the media) will keep this in their back pocket to trot out when the next election rolls around.

And speaking of fighting the Japanese, look for a book by George MacDonald Fraser (the Flashman author), called Quartered Safe Over Here, which is his excellent memoir of fighting in Burma, where, he notes, the enemy was only ever called "Jap."

As for Japanese civility being a thin veneer - I gather that is pretty much the case with the Japanese in general, from everything I've seen or read. The popularity of 'manga' - openly enjoyed on public transit and so on, speaks to this. among other things.