'The greatest weapons of all are not the arms you bear but the arms you link'

THE King has paid a deeply personal tribute to “forgotten” VJ Day heroes who continued to serve as Europe celebrated the end of the Second World War there.

- By Giles Sheldrick and Emily Ferguson

In a stirring speech broadcast today exactly 80 years since the end of the whole conflict Charles, 76, described how heroes who carried on fighting in the Far East and Pacific “gave us more than freedom...they left us the example of how it can and must be protected”.

On Victory over Japan Day, His Majesty said the triumph was made possible by close collaboration between nations “across vast distances, faiths and cultural divides”.

His message of hope on a landmark anniversary ended with a poignant message for the future: “In times of war and in times of peace, the greatest weapons of all are not the arms you bear but the arms you link.”

Later today he will be joined by the Queen at a Royal British

Legion service of remembrance at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire to thank veterans.

They will meet 33 VJ Day heroes, aged from 96 to 105, who served in what became known as The Forgotten War. The guests of honour will be told their service will always be remembered. The King's six-minute international radio broadcast, released this morning, bears striking similarities to the emotional words of his grandfather George VI who, eight decades earlier, declared “the war is over”, adding: “From the bottom of my heart I thank my Peoples for all they have done, not only for themselves but for mankind.”