GALLERY: VJ Day 80 commemorations and celebrations in Skegness

Families were encouraged to dress in red, white and blue on Friday to share a moment of celebration in Tower Gardens, where there was music and free red, white and blue cupcakes and tea at at Cafe Dansant.

Highlights were 1940’s duo the Infinity Belles, followed by Boston Dance Jive group.

Commemorations also featured a national two-minute silence at noon, followed by wreath laying at the Branch Memorial in the Memorial Gardens in Skegness and a short service outside St Matthew’s Church.

The lighting of the beacon near the RNLI Station concluded the day in the evening.

Events in Skegness were part of a larger commemoration of VJ Day, which was marked by a national service at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, featuring King Charles and Queen Camilla.

Local Burma Star veteran Alfred Conway, who recently celebrated his 100th birthday in Skegness, was one of the 33 men attending for their service in military in the Far East and Pacific who were honoured for their courage and sacrifice.

The national service also included a flypast by the Red Arrows and historic aircraft from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

Commemorations in Skegness and the national event were important opportunities to remember and pay tribute to all those who served in the Far East during World War II – a conflict which continued after the end of the war in Europe on May 8, 1945 and has become known as ‘the forgotten war’.

Kevin Woolley, Chairman of the Skegness Branch of the Royal British Legion, said it was an honour and a privilege to remember our Far East veterans at so many different events.

“For many years they were regarded as the forgotten army — but no longer,” he said. “The way Skegness came together truly touches my heart, and it is a comfort to know that we will continue to remember them, and the sacrifices they gave both on the battlefield and as prisoners of war in dreadful conditions.

“Many suffered disease, starvation and cruelty at the hands of their captors, forced to work from dawn to dusk on the infamous Burma Railway. “Even after the war, they carried those scars for the rest of their lives.

“Therefore, I say again: thank you, Skegness community, for standing with us on such a poignant day.

“The legion of the living salutes the legion of the dead.”