D-Day veteran recounts 'unimaginable horror of war on VJ Day anniversary

An Erskine Veterans Village resident who served in the Second World War and helped evacuate prisoners of war (PoWs) has said the horrors of armed conflict “should never be forgotten”.

- SARAH WARD, PA SCOTLAND & TAYLOR MURRAY

Albert Lamond took part in D-Day in 1944 as an 18-year-old seaman, a year after joining the Royal Navy, and also served in the Pacific in the lead up to VJ Day on August 15, 1945, when Japan announced its surrender to the Allied forces.

Mr Lamond was involved in D-Day as a signalman on HMS Rowley, part of the 3rd Escort Group, when it was deployed to rendezvous with battleship HMS Warspite as it travelled to Normandy in France to shell German troops. HMS Rowley’s role was to act as a first line of defence by circling HMS Warspite and it was expected the sailors would sacrifice their lives.

Mr Lamond survived and, a year later, on Victory over Japan Day (VJ Day), his role was to evacuate Allied prisoners of war from remote islands and transport them to Australia.

The 99-year-old, who was 19 at the time, described the PoWs as “living skeletons” but said they were still able to smile when they were rescued.