On 15 August, Legion Scotland’s Nairn branch commemorated V-J Day with a short service and wreath laying. V-J Day, or Victory over Japan Day to give it its full name, marks the official end of the Second World War but has largely been replaced in the public consciousness by both VE Day and Remembrance weekend.

 

Reverend Tommy Bryson, who squatted on his heels at the start of the service, explains, “I began on my cuddie-hunkers because of the experience of meeting with several Prisoners of War who had been imprisoned by the Japanese during the war.  

 

“The men of the village who were in their early forties and fifties often used to sit together in two places in the village, the Coop and Millers the grocers. A number of them sat on their cuddie-hunkers. It wasn’t until later on in life that it was explained to me by Dr Mcleod, a family doctor who had also been a prisoner at the time, that to survive the cruelty and barbarity of the Japanese prison guards these men had to learn how to sleep on their cuddie-hunkers to survive.”

 

The UK marks V-J Day on 15 August, while the US delays its commemorations until 2 September. For the UK, the commemorations coincide with the date that Japan initially announced its surrender. Depending on time zones, this can be considered either the 14 or 15 August, with the latter being the key date for Japan itself and Europe. 

The US, meanwhile, delays it commemorations to the day that the surrender document was signed. Officially, this is also the final day of the war. Japan conducts a ceremony on 2 September too, called the National Memorial Service for War Dead. It has changed a little over the years but became a permanent fixture of the annual calendar in 1982. 

Next year will mark 80 years since V-J Day, and it is expected that more attention will be paid to this important date as a result.