Bromsgrove came together to commemorate VJ Day - The Bromsgrove Standard

Bromsgrove came together to commemorate VJ Day

Bromsgrove Editorial 15th Aug, 2018   0

RESIDENTS, members of the Armed Forces community, councillors and the Court Leet came together on Saturday for the annual VJ Day parade and service.

Home Secretary and Bromsgrove MP Sajid Javid and Bromsgrove District Council chairman Coun Caroline Spencer were among those who laid wreaths at the Burma Star Memorial in Crown Close.

The memorial is the national one for the Burma campaign and remembers the soldiers, sailors and airmen who served and were lost in the conflict which was fought between 1943 and 1945.

Saturday’s service was given by Rev Ray Khan, the vicar of St John’s Church and chaplain to the Bromsgrove Royal British Legion.




He also played the solid silver bugle played at the Battle of the Somme by a Bromsgrove soldier.

Patrick Smith, the chairman of the Bromsgrove RBL, said: “It was absolutely fantastic – we had ten standards on parade representing different organisations and it was nice to have the Home Secretary there.


“The service was short and straight to the point and the silence was impeccably observed.”

Mr Javid said: “”I was honoured to lay a wreath in commemoration of the 73rd anniversary of the Allied victory over Japan in 1945.

“This annual service at our Burma Star Memorial commemorates the soldiers, sailors and airmen who lost their lives in the Burma Campaign – we will never forget your sacrifice and be forever in your debt.”

VJ Day, which marks the Victory over Japan at the end of the Second World War, is always held on the closest Saturday to August 15.

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