'The men called him Uncle Bill... and they knew he had their best interests at heart'

THE heroic soldiers who called themselves the Forgotten Army must not be allowed to fade into history, according to the grandson of their beloved commander.

- James Knuckey

Viscount Slim, Mark Slim said the crucial role of the Fourteenth Army, led by his grandfather Field Marshal Viscount William Slim, in the Far East must get the recognition it did not necessarily receive at the time.

Once named Britain’s “greatest general”, the commander led the Fourteenth Army to victory in Burma in one of the most remarkable turnarounds of the war. The brutal campaign had been a disaster until his appointment in 1943, but saw a dramatic U-turn.

Speaking to the Daily Express for the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, Viscount Slim, 65, said: “I think it’s a very important landmark. I think it’s very important people realise that Victory in Europe Day was not the end of the war. VJ Day was the end of the war because that was when all hostilities around the world ceased.

“When you had VE Day, there were several more months of very heavy fighting in the Far East, which never really had the coverage they deserved.

“I think one of the sadnesses today is people don’t have a good grasp of history.

Leader

“There’s the saying that history repeats itself and the only reason history does usually repeat itself is because people can’t remember or aren't aware of what happened before.

“I think it’s very important people understand how badly things can go wrong in the world and we must do all we can to prevent it from happening again.”