The Lieut-Governor and the Bailiff will take the salute and lay wreaths, but the focus will be on the contribution Islanders made in securing freedom.
Victory Over Japan Day – 15 August – has for years been overshadowed by the anniversaries for D-Day, the end of the war in Europe and, in Jersey’s case, Liberation Day.
Island authorities have decided to put that right.
The Bailiff, Sir Philip Bailhache, said: ‘Tomorrow’s ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of VJ Day on 15 August 1945 provides the opportunity to reflect on the courage of Jerseymen serving in the Far East during the war.
It is inevitable in this 60th anniversary year that the focus of public celebration should fall on 9 May, which has of course a particular significance for those who endured the Occupation and, indeed, for the Island as a whole.
‘But even as we rejoiced in the celebration of 60 years of freedom in May, we remembered those for whom the war was to continue for a further three months.
‘In a simple ceremony tomorrow, we are marking not only the cessation of hostilities in 1945, but also the contribution which those Islanders made to the freedom we enjoy today.’ The organiser of tomorrow’s events, HM Forces Support and Welfare Officer Owen Wiscombe, is urging everyone to turn out and show their appreciation to Islanders who were willing to put their lives on the line in the name of freedom.
‘This is probably the last opportunity the Island will have to pay tribute to the more senior veterans,’ he said, ‘and for me personally, having organised ceremonial parades over the past 15 years, this is the most important parade I have ever done.’ Jersey’s celebrations will focus on a non-religious Act of Remembrance at 10.55 am the Cenotaph.
It will be preceded at 10.25 am by a parade of veterans and Island associations from Snow Hill.
They will march down Queen Street and King Street – picking up two additional columns in Halkett Street and Don Street – to the Town Hall, where the Lieut-Governor, Air Chief Marshal Sir John Cheshire, the Bailiff and the Constable of St Helier, Simon Crowcroft, will take the salute.
Brigadier Terry Troy – the subject of today’s Saturday Interview on page 8 – will be reading the Kohima epitaph.
In the event of bad weather, announcements will be made regarding alternative arrangements.
The Second World War ended with the surrender of Japan on 15 August 1945 following the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on 6 August and on Nagasaki three days later.
Although the British government set a single day – 10 July – to mark both the 60th anniversary of VE Day and VJ Day, smaller events will be taking place across the UK and around the world.
Sixty years ago, as many countries decreed two-day holidays for the people to celebrate the end of war, Jersey marked the victory over Japan and the end of the Second World War with a drumhead service of thanksgiving at the Weighbridge.
The ecumenical service led by the Bishop of Southampton, and the victory march-past which followed, were witnessed by Island dignitaries and the public.
The 1,000-strong column, formed by troops of the Liberation Force and led by the band of St James’s Boys’ Brigade with Drum Major Dan Donovan at the head, marched to Snow Hill, along Queen and King Streets, into the Parade and back to the Weighbridge via the Esplanade.
The column paused opposite Patriotic Place, where the Bailiff, then Alexander Coutanche, and the Commander of Force 135, Colonel Bill Robinson, took the salute.
