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Did you watch the VJ Day events today?

(2 Posts)
POGS Sat 15-Aug-15 16:58:03

Forgive me for starting another thread on the VJ Day Commemorations but I am talking about today's coverage and respect for those who were involved not the rights or wrongs of the war. Another thread covers those aspects.

I watched all day and I thought it was handled very well and the the t.v stations that aired today's events covered it perfectly.

I don't have a particular like nor dislike for Richard Bacon but I thought he interviewed with great respect and I noticed his personal hand on the shoulder of those individuals who served in WW11 in a gesture which said thank you, respect to you. Respect from one generation to another.

I was surprised at the feelings that just swept over me when Charles Dance read Kipling's Mandalay. Why I don't know, I can't rationalise why that was a particular moment of such emotion. Did it affect anybody else that way.

I hope they no longer feel like the 'Forgotten Army'

joannapiano Sat 15-Aug-15 18:53:49

DH and myself watched on BBC News channel, as the veterans marched, walked and went in wheelchairs, past the Cenotaph. We found it very moving and I had tears in my eyes.
My Dad was in the army in Burma and his best friend was shot by a Japanese sniper. His friend Billy was a prisoner for 3 years and said he could never forgive the Japanese nation.
My Dad was a young Cockney boy from London who had never been further than Southend before he was called up. He rarely spoke of his time in the Far East.