Commemorating VJ Day

Jayne Kirkham MP viewing the names of 26,380 individuals who died in the Burma Campaign with no known place of rest - Portscatho

This month marked 80 years since VJ Day, the end of the Second World War. While Victory in Europe was declared in May 1945, British and Commonwealth soldiers continued to fight Japanese forces across Asia and the Pacific until August.

I attended two commemorations: a morning flag-raising in Falmouth and an afternoon service at the Burma Memorial in Portscatho, established by local veteran James Allan to honour 26,380 soldiers with no known grave.

What happened as a result of those two world wars and the preservation of the memory of them has helped to keep the spectre of full-blown war in Europe at bay for a long time. Now the ground has shifted. The first duty of a Leader is to keep their country safe. We know from the bitter experience of our grandparents what happens when the security of Europe is breached, and the situation in Ukraine is too loud an echo to ignore.

The Prime Minister is right to stand with Ukraine and to rebuild our armed forces after 14 years of cuts. Military spending hasn’t been at 2.5% of GDP since the last Labour government and the lead this Prime Minister is taking in international diplomacy needs a military commitment to match. Europe needs to be able to secure its borders in an uncertain future.

Some ask why we continue to mark VJ Day, VE Day, and D Day. Part of it is to remember that trauma. Every year, we are losing the people who can remember. We must take on their memories and remember for them. The horror of what war in Europe can lead to must never be forgotten for the human impact it had, and for the people who had to give up almost their entire generation to stop it.