Whilst VE Day marked the end of the war in Europe on 8 May 1945, many thousands of our Armed Forces personnel were still involved in bitter fighting in the Far East. Victory over Japan came at a heavy price and VJ Day marks the day that Japan surrendered on the 15 August 1945, which in effect ended the Second World War.
Although the current guidance prevents the Council from organising any large events, it will continue to remember the day virtually. It will also be lighting up civic buildings red, white and blue over the weekend of 15 August and will be using resources available on line which include:
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) digital toolkit which includes lots of ways you can still get involved. The full toolkit is available here: https://ve-vjday75.gov.uk/get-involved/.
On 15 August, The Royal British Legion will be holding a commemoration at the National Memorial Arboretum to mark the 75th anniversary of VJ Day. It will be broadcast on BBC One at 11:00 and will include veteran testimonies and music from military musicians as well as wreath-laying at several memorials.
Children in Leeds can get involved in a number of ways including colouring in pictures to put in their windows. Children can also make origami birds (paper cranes) to mark VJ Day 75 and then send them to Big Ideas. For more information on how to make a paper crane and where to send them to go to https://www.big-ideas.org/vjday/. These cranes will be assembled into a paper wreath for the Children’s Peace Monument in the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park to remember those who died as a result of the two atomic bombs that were dropped on Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Our libraries team have also created a short film of photographic material from end of war celebrations in Leeds similar to the one that they produced for VE Day which will be shown on our social media feeds.