VJ heroes remembered across Devon and Cornwall

Events to mark 80 years since VJ Day, or Victory over Japan Day, are being held across Devon and Cornwall.

The day is commemorated on 15 August each year, marking the date in 1945 when Japan surrendered to the Allied forces, ending World War Two.

King Charles has honoured those whose “service and sacrifice” helped to bring an end to the war, vowing that those who fought and died in the Pacific and Far East “shall never be forgotten”. A national two-minute silence was also held at midday.

Memorials, flag raising, beacon lighting, wreath laying and bell ringing will take place across the two counties.

Jack Hughieson, from Devon, was captured by the Japanese during the fall of Hong Kong in December 1941 and survived the sinking of a cargo ship called the Lisbon Maru.

His nephew, Chris Hutchison, said: “I think that many of us read in the media about when people lose someone and it just seems a sort of faint prick of sadness.

“But the scale on which people gave their lives, to the scale on which atrocities were committed, brings it home to you in a very real personal way.”

Dougie Marsh was captured by the Japanese after his ship, the Plymouth-based HMS Exeter, was sunk.

His granddaughter, Joanna Matthew, said he traded his wedding ring for medicine, which saved his best friend Cecil’s life.

She said it was “almost pretty unbelievable because the Japanese stripped them of all their jewellery and everything when they came off ship”.

Ms Matthew said the life-saving gesture had led to a lifelong tradition between the two families.

She said: “[Cecil] lived in Cornwall, he lived on a farm, and he promised my grandfather that when they got back, he promised him a goose.

“The strange thing about that is when I found out, my father gasped when I told him, and he said, ‘Oh my gosh, we had a goose arrive every year at Christmas’.”

Jack Chalker, a British soldier and artist, risked his life daily to secretly document the violence inflicted upon Allied prisoners by the Japanese Imperial Army on the Burma-Siam Railway – also known as the Death Railway.

Mr Chalker’s sketches and watercolours, created under constant threat of execution, served as historical records and were used in war crimes trials.

His son, Guy Chalker Howells, said his paintings were not without extreme risk.

He said: “Like all the prisoners he was very, very ill – he nearly died on several occasions.

“He was beaten up when they did actually find a picture and thrown in the river – they thought they’d killed him but luckily he survived it.”

Mr Chalker Howells said his dad had managed to hold onto a box of watercolours so he could keep painting.

“They were quite ingenious, he literally would have been killed had they found that he was recording sensitive stuff.”

Bill Box, whose father-in-law served in Burma, said the commemorations were an opportunity to recognise the emotion felt at the time.

He said: “I think it’s hard for us these days to appreciate just the length of time the war was lasting and the fortitude and strength and sacrifice that was involved.

“Then the relief and joy that there must have been at the end, tinged with obviously grief and uncertainty at the same time as well for what had happened.”

In Cornwall, a two-minute silence was held at noon at the Memorial Garden in Penlee Park, Penzance.

People from the Royal British Legion will mark the occasion at the Burma War Memorial at The Lugger in Portscatho to honour those who served in the Burma campaign and the Far East, from 15:00 BST.

A special ceremony is being held in Exeter at the War Memorial in Northernhay Gardens, Devon, starting at 15:30 BST.

It will begin with a welcome from the Lord Mayor of Exeter, followed by a speech from the High Sheriff of Devon. Everyone is invited to attend.

Sidmouth, Teignmouth, Exeter, and Plymouth are all marking the day with flag raising, beacon lighting, laying wreathes, bell ringing and processions.