VJ-Day 2025

With August 15th 2025 being the 80th anniversary of the end of the war with Japan, it is clear there will be no more major commemorations from the Second World War.  Those who served, in the Army Royal Navy or RAF will be well into their 90s, and many over one hundred years of age now.  Any 18 year olds in 1945 will now be 98, and very likely to miss the 90 the anniversary.  

Therefore it is right that the nation, the UK, remembers those who served in the last phase of the war against the slow to surrender Japanese.  It is important to remember the Australian and New Zealand, the Ghurkhas, the Indian and African regiments who also served and suffered severe war conditions and pitiful prisoner of war treatments.

The decision to surrender without a fight left many servicemen angry, especially those who had just arrived in places such as Singapore who, after only 14 days, found themselves beginning a slave like experience on the famous Burmese Railway.  Many never found it within themselves to forgive or be reconciled with their captors, all carried the results of the treatment they had received both in body and in mind.

A short word for the captors.  Reading the experiences we note how the Japanese dehumanised their own men, from officer down to conscript.  We read that on occasion the worst Japanese guard turned out to be Korean. Korea at that time under Japanese control.  We also read of several Japanese guards who did not abuse the prisoners unless ordered to do so, and some who slipped food to them unobserved.  Huma nature in war is an interesting thing to watch.

The Japanese of today are not under such an imperialist army.  Indeed their creativity and work ethic has made Japan one of the worlds leading nations.  Their men suffered, and continued to suffer PTSD and guilt from their actions also after the war.  Few of their leaders were held to account, many continued in power under General MacArthur and USA control.  

Life is a funny thing.

We do not forget those who served, below are the ten local men who died in the Far East.   

Not all their experiences would make pleasant reading.   

BEERE, STANLEY HAROLD Gunner 963577. Royal Artillery 16 Defence Regt. Died: 13th February 1942 Age: 22. Born Cosford 1919. SINGAPORE MEMORIAL        

Singapore surrendered 15th February 1942.

Within Kranji War Cemetery stands the SINGAPORE MEMORIAL, bearing the names of over 24,000 casualties of the Commonwealth land and air forces who have no known grave. Many of these have no known date of death and are accorded within our records the date or period from when they were known to be missing or captured. The land forces commemorated by the memorial died during the campaigns in Malaya and Indonesia or in subsequent captivity, many of them during the construction of the Burma-Thailand railway, or at sea while being transported into imprisonment elsewhere. The memorial also commemorates airmen who died during operations over the whole of southern and eastern Asia and the surrounding seas and oceans.

BENDING, GEORGE.  Private 5827417.  Suffolk Regiment 4th Bn. Died: 16th September 1943 Age: 28. THANBYUZAYAT WAR CEMETERY,  The 4th & 5th Battalions Suffolk's were Territorial battalions. Sent to Singapore January 1942 the endured just over two weeks of action before surrendering to the Japanese forces. Then followed over three years harsh treatment as Prisoners of War. During this time George Bending died.      

BEVAN, THOMAS EDWARD. Colour Serjeant 2033192 King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster)  attd. King's African Rifles. Died:24th September 1944. Age: 29. RANGOON MEMORIAL. Husband of Gladys Bevan, of Braintree, Essex.   

DAVISON, PETER DOUGLAS. Lieutenant 331870 Essex Regiment attd. 1st Bn. Northamptonshire Regiment.  Died: 18th April 1946.  Age: 26. KRANJIWAR CEMETERY.  Son of John Douglas Davison and Elizabeth Davison, of 130 Cressing Road, Braintree, Essex.  Father John a heating engineer.  Peter died at Jahore, Malaya possibly from disease and buried at Wing Loon Cemetery on the 19th, re-interred at Kranji September 9th.

FRYATT, JOHN ALFRED. Petty Officer Telegraphist C/JX 139959 Royal Navy H.M.S. "Thanet" Died: 27th January 1942. Age:25  CHATHAM NAVAL MEMORIAL  Son of Edward and Annie Fryatt. Lived 38 Sunnyside, Braintree.

HMS "Thanet," and the destroyer HMAS "Vampire," were ordered to sea to intercept large Japanese convoy. They steamed from Singapore at 4.30pm on 26 January, carrying only three torpedoes each. Early in the morning of 27 January they ran into the covering force of Japanese warships, consisting of three destroyers, and later being joined by the Japanese cruiser Sendai. Thanet was hit in the engine room and disabled, and began to sink. Vampire attempted to lay down a smoke screen but was driven off under heavy fire, and managed to escape. Thanet sank with heavy loss of life shortly afterwards.

GOODAY, NORMAN GEORGE  Private. 6019078 Suffolk Regiment 4th Bn.  Died: 13th September 1943. Age: 23 CHUNGKAI WAR CEMETERY. Born Braintree 1919.  Son of Samuel and Elizabeth Mary Gooday, of 8, Maple Avenue, Braintree, Essex.  Father Samuel a church caretaker.

The 4th & 5th Battalions Suffolk's were Territorial battalions.  Sent to Singapore January 1942 the endured just over two weeks of action before surrendering to the Japanese forces.  Then followed over three years harsh treatment as Prisoners of War.

MARTIN, CECIL ERNEST. Private  6025547  Essex Regiment 1st Bn. 23rd Infantry Brigade, 6th Division. Died: 15th April 1944. Age: 24  KOHIMAWAR CEMETERY

Fierce fighting around Kohima during 1944, severe casualties for 1st Essex however from here on the Japanese were in retreat.

McDERMOTT, THOMAS HAROLD Sergeant. 358213 Royal Air Force Died: 27th July 1945 Age: 40. SINGAPORE MEMORIAL Born Mill Hill 1905, Son of Henry Thomas McDermott and Florence Bertha McDermott; husband of Lily May McDermott, (Wed 1931) of Braintree, Essex. Death recorded by Japanese as 'Malaria.' 

NUNN, ARTHUR JAMES.  Gunner. 1831405  Royal Artillery 270 Bty., 77 Lt. A.A.Regt.  Died:7th December 1942.  Age: 36. Born Ashtead, Surrey 1906.  DELHI WAR CEMETERY  Son of Josiah F. Nunn and Lily Dale Nunn, of Braintree, Essex. Brother Josiah Grimston died 1931. Sister Phyllis born 1921.

REID, WILLIAM. Gunner.  2872020.  Royal Artillery 3 Bty., 6 H.A.A. Regt. Died: 11th December 1943. Age: 35 KANCHANABURI WAR CEMETERY.  Son of James and Jane Reid; husband of Bridget Reid, of Braintree, Essex.

Became Prisoner of War when Singapore surrendered to Japanese on 15th February 1942. 

Buried Tasao No 2 Cemetery, re-interred Kanchanaburi  1st March 1946.

Nuclear Bombs

 

I read in the 'Times,' the story of a woman who survived the bombing of Hiroshima, and with her surviving family moved straight away to her mothers home town of Nagasaki.  

Ayano Hirashima was 8 years of age when a blinding flash left her under rubble.  Her family survived and the made of to Nagasaki arriving just after the second Atom bomb had landed.  At the station they were greeted with burned people, some alive some dead, and much confusion as to what to do.   This was a similar situation many throughout the previous years had endured across the world as war raged.  

Naturally, she and her family walked through the city to their destination, where she still lives, all the time unaware, as were most people, that radiation all around them would prove to be a killer.

Some 100,000 Japanese who endured one of these bombs remain alive, only 130 appear to have encountered both.  Of these only Ayano and a 94 year old woman called Kinyuo Fukui in the north remain.  Those remaining all are around 86 years of age.  Long lives abound in Japan.

It is not a surprise that these Hibakusha, as survivors are known, lead they way in calling for an end to nuclear weapons.  They have seen the blinding flash, the destruction and suffering that ensued.  Ayano and probably all the rest, have suffered cancers of various forms since 1945.

Many decry nuclear weapons, calling the bombing of Hiroshima a 'war crime.'  I note they forget the Japanese treatment of the peoples of Korea, and their invasion of Manchuria, and the war in China from 1937 on which included the 'rape of Nanking,' and platoons of soldiers raping a woman to death or bayoneting her afterwards to ensure death.  I note they forget also the treatment of POWs during this time.  Indian troops buried alive, men beaten to death by the hundred, and the machine guns readied to execute all prisoners which was halted by the dropping of atom bombs and the Emperors surrender.  Even then not all Japanese accepted this surrender and wished to fight on.

Nuclear weapons are dreadful weapons.  The USA exploded many in Arizona while testing, they failed to kill any enemy however, the radioactive cloud spread across the mid west into Canada and killed a great many.  Famously, John Wayne, while making another historically inaccurate western and many of the crew involved suffered cancers from filming in Arizona.  When the Soviet Union ended they walked away from the nuclear test areas in Kazakhstan, (or was it Uzbekistan?) and left the people to suffer similar radioactive fallout.  No numbers of suffering were ever recorded.

All this reveals the horror of nuclear weapons.

However, while the chattering classes combine to oppose such things, and who can blame them, none object to soldiers carrying rifles.  In days of old armies were armed with spears and swords, bows and arrows, which were greatest killers?  Is a nuclear bomb, exploding high above a city, worse than an arrow falling at speed from a great height?  Which is more deadly?

Actually, neither is more deadly than the other.  One may kill one person, the other may kill thousands, but neither is responsible for the deaths.  

It is an individual who is responsible, not a weapon.

You and I, man, remain the most deadly weapon in the world.

Human nature, greedy, selfish, arrogant, proud and unwilling to bend for another, remain the most dangerous creature on earth, and always have been.  Corrupt human nature, sin if you like, is responsible for war, whether with a knife or a bomb.  

Our human nature is the danger. 

What are you going to do about it?

Sympathy Lacking

Amateur Photographer

There has been much made recently of the sufferings of the Japanese people, always referred to as 'innocent civilians,' when the two atom bombs were dropped in 1945.  Now suffering such as this is indeed terrible and it is to be wished it had not occurred however I find my cynical nature rising at this as I contemplate the sufferings of the people in Korea, dominated by Japan since before the turn of the century. The Korean women used as prostitutes for the Jap army, the Phillipino, Indian, Burmese, South east Asian people who suffered brutality under the Japanese occupation also get mys sympathy.  As does our own British troops and our allies, Indian, Australian American beaten to death, tortured and enslaved by cruel Japanese forces.

When the Japanese admit their 'rape of Nanking' their despicable treatment of the Chinese civilians, women raped to death and men tied up and used for living bayonet practice, then I might feel sympathy for their suffering.  However being unwilling to 'lose face' the Japanese have never admitted their faults (the Germans of course have) nor have they faced up to their wrongs.  Lets not forget that had the allies invaded Japan every POW would have been shot, over 100,000 of them, but of course they don't count.

Two points here, one is the recent discovery that those who suffered under the bombs were more or else ignored and kept aside by the government of their own nation as they did not wish to remember their wartime actions!  Another discovery was an email claiming (with photographic evidence apparently) that the Chinese did not suffer but happily welcomed the Japanese, this 'evidence' arrived the other day showing how some still refuse to accept their wrongs in Japan.

The 'A' bombs were devastating, however more died elsewhere from other bombings, including Japanese bombs.  Those two bombs did however stop any nuclear war in the west as all were soon aware of the cost.  We all know what even small nuclear devices can do and the nine nations that possess them require to maintain control over them and their neighbours (yes India and Pakistan I mean you!).  While people feared nuclear war in the west some fifty million were dying in south east Asia, Africa and central America as the cold war was fought by proxy with everyday weapons.  I never feared the US or USSR would use theirs, it is more likely a rouge state or one with an unbalanced mind in charge that would be tempted.  We are back to India & Pakistan!

'Innocent civilians' those supporting their soldiers, sailors and airmen, making bombs, guns, weapons and encouraging and praising their men were all involved in war like the citizens in the west who suffered.  War today as it always has doe includes civilians.

   

It appears that people in the outlying areas of Australia, I suspect this means Queensland, have been misusing Australia's staple diet.  These people have not been eating 'Vegemite' but turning it into alcohol, getting drunk and beating one another up as if they lived in Glasgow.  Now I realise that some folks canny stand this sort of edible but many of us have tried it and found it better than 'Marmite' (the spellchecker calls this 'Termite')  the original substance that is difficult to describe.  However few to my knowledge have ever attempted to turn that into alcohol but I suppose somewhere in Glasgow as we speak several shops are being broken into and the 'Marmite' removed.

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Mixed Bag Monday

Our power drunk incompetent PM is doing it again.  He has in his mind the idea that to be a great leader he must be seen as a war leader, therefore he has been striving these past few years for a war he can win.  Encouraged by politicians taking cash from gun running types he has proposed bombing Assad in Syria, before being told not to be stupid by almost everybody, he forced the yanks to help him bomb Libya and remove Gaddafi leaving Libya in a mess with several governments almost all of which are led by gun-toting murderers, and then he went to bomb ISIS in Iraq, now he wishes to bomb them in Syria also.  The situation is therefore the men he wished to help bomb Assad he now wishes to bomb for being in Iraq. Clear?

Once again this mans PR failure is evident.  Screaming loudly about bombing Muslims while telling the British Muslims to do something about their home grown possible terrorists just increases the numbers of home grown possible terrorists.  His 'five year plan' to defeat the 'Caliphate' as he calls it shows all the understanding of the Iraq situation revealed by Bush and Blair some time back, let alone the British and French after the first world war!  

This sort require sensible propaganda to defeat, intelligence and thought are a must.  Shouting loudly about killing them off will not work and just increase the problem.  Intelligence and thought are of course the two things least available in this government.  Thoughtful consideration is less important than joining with the US in a bombing campaign (which has not stopped IS so far) rather than working on the ground creating divisions within the group.  

Clearly both the US and UK wish to put boots on the ground, clearly all this is leading up to this idea, clearly that is unpopular in the country and will be a disaster for all concerned.

Colin Smith

The Carron Fish Bar claims to be the place where the 'Deep fried Mars Bar' was born.  This luxury did not exist when I lived in Edinburgh, Scotland's capital city.  However since the inception of this delight it now appears Scots eat only such delicacies and almost anything else is ignored.  Somehow  I feel this may not be true.  I myself have never had one, nor have I had the desire to eat one and I doubt the somewhat limited chip shops in this part of the world would never be capable of offering  such a treat.  Whether the idea for such treatment of a chocolate bar originated at this particular shop I know not.   This is one of those things that I have never studied myself, however this has become successful and all fish and chip shops now offer the same in Scotland, alongside other typical Scots fare, Haddock & Chips, Pie & chips, Kebabs & chips.

There is however a problem, isn't there always?  The banner outside the shop has come under scrutiny of the council who are going through one of those 'clean up the town' periods.  The feeling there is that this particular banner is somewhat ugly and requires amendment.  Naturally the shop has rushed to the media to make publicity defend their right to use this banner.  Personally I would agree the banner is unsightly and a more considered display could easily be arranged.  However there is nothing like publicity and this woman will see people drive for miles to the shop for a deep fried Mars Bar!  The council do have powers others do not possess and I suspect changes will be made eventually without hampering this chip shops viability.

Interestingly Mars themselves wrote to this shop stating:-

 The company said it could not authorise or endorse the product which went against its policy of promoting a "healthy lifestyle."

Quite how a company that makes billions selling a wide variety of chocolate could make such a statement is beyond me.

Stonehaven itself rests just south of oil rich Aberdeen and dates far back into prehistoric times.  It is thought to have been established as an Iron Age fishing village.  In the late 1200's William Wallace the noble hero took back Dunnotter Castle from the thug Edward 1. King of Englandshire and later the noble Covenanters were crowded together in Dunnotter Castle before being shipped to the Americas, those that survived that is, some being executed or died of misuse.  Nothing much happens today as most pass through on their way north or south.  They can however stop off for lunch at the Carron Fish Bar, easily identified by the banner above the shop.

 

UPI

 

Mitsubishi, the Japanes giant, have decided to apologise for using American servicemen as slave labour during the second world war. How nice of them seventy years later! I notice this apology not only fails to offer compensation but also avoids any reference to the hundreds of British servicemen also enslaved at this plant. This feeble apology clearly has a hidden meaning. Mitsubishi, famous for their 'Zero' fighter at the time, clearly are aiming for some big money making deal with the US. What this may be we might find out later, clearly the British, nor the Australian, Indian and other, dead will not make them cash.

Why?

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Wikipeadia

I'm dying! The world means nothing to me now. I am wretched, aching and suffering. No words of sympathy can alleviate my distress, not that any come my way, no encouragement can be found while I lie helpless under the strain. All is lost, all is worthless, nothing matters. Nothing except another toilet roll and packet of Sainsbury's Ibuprofen and dozens of cups of steaming hot liquids that is! Why oh why did I not buy that whisky for the toddy I ask myself repeatedly. Why oh why do I always get these things? Why me? What have I done to deserve this? Well actually we will miss out that last question as there are numerous replies and I would prefer to avoid all of them, time is too short for them all anyway. Oh the suffering, oh the pain, oh the agony and distress!


What is the point of a cold virus? Why were they created? Just what part do they play in the universe? Jesus did not sit up one day and think, "I know, just for a laugh I will invent a virus that causes sniffles, headaches, muscle aches, dissipates the brain, wearies the legs and leads to no sympathy from those free from it whatsoever!" (Sympathy that those who then suffer this debilitating illness then demand!) Just what is the point of it? Why do virii of any sort exist to cause illness? These are complicated little mechanisms, the 'Trojan Horses' of the real world. I was thinking on this and wonder what they were intended for when I thought "Fly's," those little beasts that appear in warm weather and fill the house, find their way into the kitchen and are impossible to swat because of their incredible eyes. Why were they created? Fantastic vision but no other purpose apart from breeding a million a week and being a pest!

Daily Mail

Oh the suffering, not helped by unanswered questions. Oh the pain, oh dearie me. Although I must say that I have found it difficult to really allow myself to make my suffering known when I read of small Japanese towns of some 17,000 people being inundated by the tsunami and now around 10,000 are missing! Watching peoples fishing boats make their way down the High Street does make a cold appear less important. Japan is well aware of the dangers of earthquakes, well prepared, and rich enough to deal with most events. However watching the pictures it is clear that they nation has been stunned! Where do you begin? Especially as a nuclear power station is in danger of a second Chernobyl? How do you find survivors, as if any will be found? How do you clear up the mess, especially when so many trained people have been lost in the aftermath? How do you deal with such a situation?  There are advantages to living in cold, damp Britain after all.
   

Understanding Colds

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Nothing to Say, Again!

Once again a Saturday night arrives and I find myself with nothing to say and no energy not to say it. The day appears to have passed me by again, too many do these days, and when I look for something intellectually stimulating, humorous, or worth reading I discover that searching for the web cam that was pointed to paint peeling from the wall is more worthwhile. Actually the picture, if found, will be much more interesting than anything discovered on here!
Having not got out much today, folk often comment that I appear not to get out much, I never looked for that enthralling photograph that would enliven your life. The fact is I only popped out for cheap veg and hobbled back home again. I say hobbled as I exercised the other day and walked a fair distance. The walking gave me a blister and the exercise has strained my hamstring just to remind me to do things in a more organised and thoughtful manner. What's that I hear, sympathy perhaps? No thought not!


I did manage to find the Japan v Scotland game this morning. What some consider a needless friendly, I suspect had Walter Smith organised this game everyone would be agreeing how wonderful it was and a good opportunity to blood young players, the game turned out to be better than I thought, once I realised it was being shown! Why do people not tell me things, not counting that policeman the other night of course, I missed the first 13 minutes but got there as they need my support at all times. Lee Wallace, not requested at the beginning, was the best player on the park, I ignored the Japanese ones I only paid half price to watch one team, and Berra and Gordon were also excellent. Interestingly we were doing OK until the two Hibs players entered the field, we then lost two goals! Typical! Still, at least the fringe players got a run out, the young lads got a taste of international football and that is what friendlies ought to be about. The Japanese are of course very different in their outlook, and their repetitive chant throughout became annoying by the second half.


Well as I have failed to find anything of interest I will go and howl at the moon, it is quite large just now I believe, I cannot see the thing because of the cloud cover, but I know it is quite large as hair is growing all over my face, I howl at the thing when my concentration lapses, and I find myself being nice to people in the street. All the usual effects of the moons influence. I suspect the tides will be high at the moment also. Hoooooooowwwwwwwwlllllllllll. Oh I needed that. Oops, the neighbour s banging on the wall again, maybe the moon is influencing him also?