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2025 Liskeard RBL 80th Anniversary of V.J. Day Drumhead Commemoration Service
The Liskeard RBL Branch proudly invited all members as well as the general public to join them in an Act of Remembrance on the 80th Anniversary of the end of the war with Japan and the end of World War 2. The actual V J Day was 15th August, Liskeard RBL holds the commemorations on the nearest Sunday, so they invited a gathering to come together for a Drumhead Service on Sunday 17th August at 13.00, in the open sided Workshed in the Cattle Market. A small representation of the Liskeard Silver Band provided some music, the Town Crier will opened with The Proclamation, the Guides laid their appropriately decorated beach pebbles and wreaths were laid. After the Roll of Honour for those from Liskeard who died in the Far East, was a short act of worship, the Tribute was read followed by the National Anthem and the Last Post.
When you go home, tell them of us and say, ‘for your tomorrow, we gave our today’
Vintage vehicles were on display as well as representatives from our uniformed youth organisations and there was a large turn out in support.
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August 15th remembers the day the Japanese surrendered, thus ending WW2 finally, 80 years ago today in 1945.
For most people here, the German threat to the UK was much more immediate and the Far East War more a secondary theatre and it did not resonate in the same way via press and news coverage. Communications between service personnel in the Far East and the home front were also very difficult. It was just a very long way away.
The conditions during the Far East campaign were very different from those of the war in Europe - fighting across oceans, in monsoon drenched jungles, on snow covered hills, on remote islands, in scorching heat, coping with tropical disease. There was a sense that many were the Forgotten Army, poorly equipped and lacking resources. Out of sight, out of mind maybe.
As the RBL is committed to shining a light and honouring all these extraordinary men and women who experienced and sacrificed so much for freedom, it is fitting that we as a Branch mark this special event by remembering all who were caught up in the conflicts. The Fourteenth Army of the Burma Campaign, The Chindits, the British Indian Army, the Prisoners of War, 12,433 of them died, including many from Cornwall working on the Death Railway as engineers and miners, the civilians and overseas troops and their families back home. 90,332 British troops were casualties, 29,968 died, the US suffering the greatest losses at over 100,000. But we must also remember 2.6million Japanese people also lost life as a result of military action, disease or starvation
Lest We Forget.
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