The BBC will mark the 70th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day (VJ Day) with a range of coverage on television and radio.
Kirsty Young will anchor live coverage of the commemorations on Saturday 15 August in VJ Day 70: The Nation Remembers (BBC One, from 10.30am, with highlights on Sunday 16 August at 5.30pm on BBC Two), with James Naughtie commentating on events and Dan Snow speaking to veterans and their families.
The coverage will focus on a service held at St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square, organised by the National Far East Prisoners of War Fellowship Welfare Remembrance Association, and attended by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh and other members of the Royal Family, the Prime Minister, veterans, former prisoners of war and civilian internees.
Claire Popplewell, the BBC’s editor of ceremonial events said: “I am proud to provide the coverage of this very important World War Two anniversary. It is incredibly important to make sure that those who fought so bravely to secure victory over Japan seventy years ago are honoured and remembered.”
The service will be followed by a commemorative event at Horse Guards Parade which will include a flypast and a wreath-laying ceremony, before veterans, internees and their families parade down Whitehall to Westminster Abbey with current members of the armed forces.
From 12 to 14 of August, local news will also hear from those who were affected by the conflict in Japan, with BBC South East Today hearing from local people, including 83 year-old Olga who was imprisoned in Changi Jail, Singapore, with her mother and siblings, while BBC South Today will hear from the families of those who survived the war, but were unable to speak about the atrocities they had witnessed.
BBC Radio will also cover the anniversary with Peter Snow looking at how the event was reported in 1945 in Random Edition on Radio 4 (Saturday 14th August, 11am). Jeremy Vine will be asking listeners for their family stories about the event (Saturday 14th August, 12pm), while Peter Allen travels to Hiroshima for Radio 5 Live to hear how the first atomic bomb attack still affects people in Japan today on Thursday 6th August from 10am.
