Chichester marks 79 years since victory in Japan with wreath laying ceremony

Taking place at Chichester Cathedral on Friday, August 16, the event was lead by the Mayor of Chichester, who laid a wreath for the people of the city, followed by the Chichester Branch Queensmen – an association open to former troops who served in one of the queen’s regimental branches – and the laying of wooden crosses by Children of prisoners of the war in Japan.

Afterwards, a member of the Chichester City Band played The Last Post and a scripted passage from a former prisoner of war was read aloud.

VJ Day is celebrated every year to mark the anniversary of the end of the second world war in Japan, on August 15 1945. Although news of the Japanese surrender – prompted in no small part by the devastating impact of nuclear bombs detonated in Hiroshima and Nagasaki – led to celebrations in the US and UK alike, the horrors weren’t over for everyone. many British and Commonwealth prisoners of war were murdered by members of the Japanese Imperial Army devastated by the surrender,