Today is recognized as VJ Day. On this day 71 years ago the Japanese stopped their fight against the Allies. To all the Americans, British, Australians, Chinese, and others involved in the conflict, thank you. http://news.bbc.co.u...000/3581971.stm (Apologies to Owen who read this post on ww2f.com earlier)
World War II: 1939–45. Over 993,000 Australians served in the armed forces during World War II. Of those on active service, 27,073 were killed in action or died, 23,477 were wounded. More than 30,000 Australians became prisoners of war (POWs) between 1940 and 1945. The Germans and Italians captured Australians during the Mediterranean and Middle East campaigns, and also at sea in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. Members of RAAF aircrews, who had bailed out during operations over Germany, occupied Europe or North Africa, also became POWs. Of the 8,000 Australians taken prisoner by the Germans and Italians, 265 died during their captivity. During the Pacific war, the Japanese captured 22,000 Australians: soldiers, sailors, airmen and members of the army nursing service, as well as some civilians. They were imprisoned in camps throughout Japanese-occupied territories in Borneo, Korea, Manchuria, Hainan, Rabaul, Ambon, Singapore, Timor, Java, Thailand, Burma and Vietnam and also Japan itself. At the end of the war only 13,872 of the POWs were recovered: one-third of the prisoners had died. Lest we forget. Read further here of the atrocities........... General information about Australian prisoners of the Japanese | Australian War Memorial
VJ DAY Tuesday 14th August 1945 I remember the day well even though I’ve long since lost the original diary entry. Our Squadron was in Trieben in Austria at the time, ,controlling the roads leading into Germany and I had just come off the road-block guard in the early afternoon. I was changing from my guard uniform into more comfortable gear when I heard the wireless in the next room creating quite a racket. I went next door to see what was going on and found myself the only one there. I realised that my mates were probably eating dinner in the mess-hall and that they must have been listening earlier and had then left the set on. VJ Day It was VE Day all over again. The announcer back in London was describing the noisy scene as tens of thousands of jubilant servicemen and civilians swarmed the streets. As on VE Day I felt no emotion at all, if anything, I probably felt like a kid who had not been invited to a party and who was now watching the lucky ones coming home with their party bags. The short explanation was that the end of the war had come too late for my older brother Jack, G-d rest his soul. On the 11th of May, just three days after VE Day, I had received a letter from home telling me that Jack, who was an Air-Gunner, had been shot down over Nuremberg on the last such raid of the war. The loss to his widow, his two young children and to all of our family was as incalculable then as it is today some fifty odd years later and our family was never to be the same again. Ron
The notice (Photo 1) is now in the Kokopo Museum on the Island of New Britain. (Kokopo is the capital of East New Britain in Papua New Guinea. The capital was moved from Rabaul in 1994 when the volcanoes Tavurvur and Vulcan erupted.) (Photo 2) Liberated Australian POW's (Photo 3) POW's on their return to Sydney
I remember this day from the period when news was released of the wonder bomb. I remember the time when a neighbour returned from being a FEPOW He survived the sinking of the Prince of Wales/Repulse off Malaya.(The incident was to mark the end of capital warships who were exposed to a high risk of loss if not provided with air cover) The POW's son was a little older than me (I still remember his name) and the unfortunate point about the reunion with his wife and child, was that it did not last long.My mother said that the the father found it very difficult to settle down after his experiences in captivity. I think we should remember that despite the Japanese unconditional surrender it was some time before remote Japanese units were brought to heel and as a result POWs were still being ill treated and worse by their captors. Russell Brandon gives a very good insight to the aftermath of the surrender when there was a measure of retribution.His account of his captivity, The Naked Island is still a very good account of the suffering that POWs had to endure from the Japanese Imperial Forces....worth reading for those who perhaps have little idea of why we had to defeat the Japanese imperialism.
After posting #7 on Monday,I came across this memoriam regarding the murder, for that was it was.of Sub Lieutenant RN. Hockley after being downed flying ops off HMS Indefaticable in Tokyo Bay on 15 August 1945 after the Japanese had surrendered.
Thanks to everyone who "liked" this post or who posted their own comments. It was worthwhile reading.
Looking at the Japanese proclamation which Geoff posted.Along with this type of avis was the Japanese propaganda that the overrun countries of south east Asia would benefit from their Japanese occupation through their so called South East Asia Co-Prosperity Scheme,an economic plan for the conquered territories within the Japanese Empire The other side of the coin was the attraction to the up and coming nationalists that the European colonists would be driven out and that the former colonies would have a better future.Alas it never came to pass but the nationalists were quick to assert their authority in the immediate absence of the colonists, in the form of insurgencies as soon as the colonists returned to claim their territory.In some cases took almost thirty years for stability to be achieved in zones of the region.French Indo China,Malaya and the Dutch East Indies come to mind.
