Norwich Cathedral marks 80th VJ Day anniversary

The service at Norwich Cathedral honors the 80th anniversary of VJ Day and pays tribute to Far East prisoners of war and all who served.

Norwich Cathedral marks 80th VJ Day anniversary

Norwich Cathedral hosted a Service of Thanksgiving and Remembrance to mark 80 years since Japan surrendered on August 15 1945. The event was organized with the National FEPOW Fellowship Welfare Remembrance Association and featured a military parade through the Cathedral Close. The Royal Patron the Duke of Gloucester attended with the Duchess of Gloucester, and wreaths were laid by the duke a FEPOW representative and by Norfolk veterans. More than 1000 people gathered as the Norwich Cathedral Choir sang and the service closed with a reception in the Cloister.

The Dean of Norwich the Very Revd Dr Andrew Braddock spoke about the aim of the service describing it as a moment to remember the enormous human cost of the Second World War and its ending. He highlighted the fortitude of those who were prisoners of war in the Far East and the role played by the nation and Commonwealth in resisting oppression. The occasion linked a local church with a global history and showed how memory travels through generations.

The ceremony shows how public ritual can anchor memory in sacred space and in everyday life. It blends church tradition military pageantry and civic participation to connect local residents with a distant global event. The royal presence adds official weight to the memory of FEPOW and the Pacific War.

Yet the piece also prompts questions about whose stories are foregrounded in such events. FEPOW voices and veterans are central here which matters for representation. At the same time civilian suffering and broader wartime life can be under explored. Ceremonies like this educate and comfort but they also risk becoming a formal gesture unless they invite a wider range of perspectives and testimonies.

Highlights

Memory shapes how communities act in the present and plan for the future.