LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th August, 2020) The UK Primer Minister Boris Johnson and the royal family on Saturday commemorated the 75th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II (also known as VJ Day) that subsequently brought the devastating global conflict to an end.
"You were the last to come home but your achievements are written in the lights of the glittering capitals of the dynamic region we see today," Johnson wrote in an open letter addressed to the veterans.
Queen Elizabeth II also sent a message of thanks on behalf of herself and her husband, while prince Charles, the heir apparent to the British throne, joined the prime minister at the commemorative service held at the National Memorial Arboretum in the English county of Staffordshire.
"Prince Philip and I join many around the world in sending our grateful thanks to the men and women from across the Commonwealth, and Allied nations, who fought so valiantly to secure the freedoms we cherish today," the queen wrote in a statement published on the royal family�s Twitter account.
The Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, known as the Red Arrows, were scheduled to make flypasts over the four capitals of the UK (London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast), as part of the events commemorating VJ Day.
On August 15, 1945, just three months after the Soviet army and the Allied troops had defeated Nazi Germany in Europe, Japan�s Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender of his country, following the US bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The instrument of surrender that brought WWII to a close was formally signed by Japanese foreign minister Mamoru Shigemitsu on September 2, 1945, aboard the USS Missouri battleship which was anchored at the time in Tokyo bay.
