King Charles III has vowed that the service and sacrifice of VJ Day heroes “shall never be forgotten” on the 80th anniversary of the date in 1945 when Japan surrendered to the Allied forces during the Second World War.
His Majesty, in what is believed to be the most direct reference by a British monarch to the suffering in Hiroshima and Nagasaki following the nuclear attacks which led to Japan’s surrender, said it was right to pause and acknowledge the impact of the “war’s final act” on the people of the cities.
“Innocent civilian populations of occupied territories faced grievous hardships, too,” he said in the broadcast released at 7.30am on Friday, 15 August.