‘Veterans are disappearing – these war vehicles are their legacy’

A seaside town stepped back in time on Saturday as it marked the anniversary of VJ Day, or Victory over Japan Day.

On the exact spot of the former railway station in Clevedon, North Somerset, from which people would have left to serve in World War Two, a display of restored military vehicles and equipment was gathered.

As music of the era drifted through the streets and people arrived in 1940s dress, those attending reflected on the anniversary marking the end of the conflict.

“The veterans are disappearing now and their legacies really are these vehicles,” said James Shopland, who owns a collection of restored vehicles based at his family business Shoplands Sawmills.

Driving a “very aged 1940s lorry down the road”, he said, was “as near as you can really get to experiencing what they went through in the wars”.

During the war, production of civilian cars ground to a halt, with production instead focused on the huge quantity of vehicles and equipment needed for fighting.

It meant that by the end of the conflict there was a surplus of military vehicles, many of which were then bought up and repurposed for business use by people like Mr Shoplands’ ancestors.

Restoring them to their former glory has become a “project, passion, obsession”, Mr Shopland said, after growing up around the vehicles as his “playground”.

“For me it’s taking a piece of the past and trying to bring it back to life and also learn about what happened,” he told the BBC.

His father – David Shopland, a teenager on VJ Day – remembers the occasion in 1945 as much more muted than the jubilant celebrations on VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) earlier that year.

While VE Day was celebrated on 8 May 1945, thousands of military personnel continued to fight Japanese forces for three more months before the country surrendered following the United States’ nuclear strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

“It was more or less a forgotten army at times,” David said.

Describing the feeling at the end of the war, he added that while there was “relief the hostilities were over and no one else was going to be killed”, there was a “sadness” at the sudden realisation at how much had been lost.

“It wasn’t a jolly occasion, it was tinged with sadness and a little apprehension about the future because the government had changed,” he said.

And when it comes to taking part in days like Saturday’s commemoration in Clevedon, Mr Shopland said: “You have to be careful to be seen that you aren’t just playing soldiers.

“It’s an interest in the vehicles and what they stand for, what they represent, not just trying to show off.”