These men were haunted for decades by the horror they endured

THIS week has marked 80 years since VJ Day - the day when Japan surrendered to the Allies and, in effect, world war two ended - on August 15, 1945.

- By JESS MOLYNEUX

Through the generations, VJ Day has been a less prominent part of history than VE Day - but it certainly should not be forgotten.

For years, Professor Geoff Gill, emeritus professor of international medicine at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and the University of Liverpool, and Meg Parkes MPhil, honorary research fellow at LSTM, have worked closely with numerous Far East prisoners of war (FEPOW) who survived and returned to Merseyside. Documenting their fascinating stories, they believe VJ Day's 80th anniversary is another opportunity to keep the memories and legacies alive.

Meg, from Wirral, is the daughter of Wirral practitioner Dr A Atholl Duncan, who was a prisoner of war in Java and Japan. In more recent years, Meg has shared her dad's story in her book, Notify Alec Rattray, and the stories of other prisoners of war from Merseyside and beyond, to ensure their experiences and stories are not forgotten.

Meg, 72, told the ECHO: "It's in my DNA, really. My dad was in the British army and survived.

"He kept diaries which, when I was in my late teens, I eventually got to read. It produced hundreds of questions - none of which he really wanted to answer.

"But I was very, very lucky that over time he did open up to me and tried to make it clear to me what he'd been through and what references in the diaries meant. There were all sorts of acronyms and different references that meant nothing to me.

"And that's where my interest started. Dad had brought so many different things back with him, bits of paper, newspaper cuttings, photographs.

"Even though some of the men did talk to the press, and the news cuttings are there to see and to read, the vast majority closed it down. And I think it's important, certainly for us in the Merseyside area, to understand how important Liverpool was to this experience."