King will pay tribute on VJ Day

THE King and Queen will honour Second World War veterans on the 80th anniversary of VJ Day.

- SAM HALL

Royal British Legion (RBL) guests of honour at a service of remembrance at the National Memorial Arboretum today include 33 veterans aged from 96 to 105 who served in the Far East and Pacific.

Charles, patron of the RBL, Camilla, and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will attend the event which honours British, Commonwealth and Allied veterans who served in the Far East theatres of war including Myanmar and the Pacific and Indian Ocean territories.

Around 1,500 guests will hear firsthand testimony from veterans who experienced conflict in the Far East before the war ended when atomic bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leading to Japan's surrender and VJ Day on August 15 1945.

The service will begin with a national two-minute silence and include flypasts by the Red Arrows and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster - with military bagpipers playing at dawn in the Far East section of the Arboretum.

Many of the veterans at the Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire, have never told their story before registering with the RBL to be part of commemorations to mark the 80th anniversary of Victory Over Japan.