Today marks the 78th anniversary of the end of the Second World War \u2013 Victory in the Pacific (VP) \u2013 with commemorative services being held across NSW and around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Australia had been at war for 5 years, 11 months and 11 days when on 15 August 1945, Japan accepted the Allied nations\u2019 terms of surrender and Australia\u2019s Prime Minister, Ben Chifley, confirmed that the war was over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Minister for Veterans David Harris who attended the commemorative service at the Cenotaph today, alongside RSL NSW President Ray James and members of the veteran community paid tribute to the service and sacrifice of all Second World War veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToday on VP Day we come together to remember all those men and women who served \u2013 in the ranks of our Navy, Army, Air Force, the Merchant Navy and nursing \u2013 and thank them for their sacrifices, in conflict and in captivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a date, we will never forget,” Mr Harris said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe honour those who served, and the 39,000 Australians who made the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of peace and freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Australian forces were engaged in campaigns across the Pacific \u2013 in New Guinea, Bougainville, New Britain, Borneo, and in the Philippines \u2013 and Australian prisoners of the Japanese were spread throughout Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RSL NSW President Ray James OAM, said commemorating significant moments in our military history is vital to Australia, as people, a community and a nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople should never forget how close we as a nation came to invasion and occupation during the Second World War,\u201d Mr James said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut for the service and sacrifice of the men and women who served in our armed forces, and those of the Allied forces, the Australian people would not have been protected from the battles of the war reaching our shores.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Second World War veteran Don Kennedy, who had his first taste in the Merchant Navy in February 1944 at the age of 16, cruising out through the Heads on the Seirstad destined for the Atlantic also attended the commemoration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even though Don Kennedy wasn\u2019t trained to fight in the war or even acknowledged as a member of the services at the time, the commitment he and others made in the Merchant Navy was no less significant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI tell people I was 17 months in the war. There was only half an inch of metal between you and the sea if a torpedo struck the ship,” Don Kennedy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don Kennedy was one of many veterans who shared their story in 2020 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Read the veterans\u2019 stories at the NSW War Memorials Registerlaunch<\/a> website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today marks the 78th anniversary of the end of the Second World War \u2013 Victory in the Pacific (VP) \u2013 with commemorative services being held across NSW and around the world. Australia had been at war for 5 years, 11 months and 11 days when on 15 August 1945, Japan accepted the Allied nations\u2019 terms … Continue reading “Second World War veterans remembered on Victory in the Pacific Day”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22331"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22332,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22331\/revisions\/22332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}