Thread by @Louise_Rowntree

1/ My late father, Brian Rowntree’s (centre) letter home, from his ship #hmsindefatigable , about #VJDay
( #VJDay75 thread):
“Well, we have got a third and last surrender, after all that suspense. Censorship has been lifted this morning, so I can spread myself in this”

2/ “Rumours were driving us mental... on the morning the Japs threw in the towel, we were as usual at action stations & we had a strike out over Tokyo Bay. They came back, having knocked down six, and we cancelled our further planned strikes...

3/ “and the Commander broadcast & pointed out that the flagship was flying the signal ‘cease activities against Japan’. We all leaned over the rail and were goofing at the string of the bunting, when...

4/ we heard a great sighing and machine gun fire. Rapidly assuming the horizontal, we heard a bomb go into the sea a few hundred yards away on our side (later said officially to be 2000lb), and a Zeke, and a rather limp-looking Japanese pilot on a parachute”

5/“He had got in unobserved and had a bang at us. So much for peace! We were troubled many times that day, and strong language was used when the radio told us how all the world was singing and dancing. But our turn came”.

6/ My father was such a legend. He made some of his best friends in the @RoyalNavy and forever loved ships & the sea.
He knew #Hiroshima was a nasty trick. But he also never forgave the Japanese for how they treated their prisoners - one his good friend.

75 years on, we are the next generations: whilst both sides must take responsibility for the horrors they (we) inflicted, it’s also a privilege not to have inherited any of that hate. Thank you, forever: #WeWillRememberThem

#love #VJDay75 #VJDay75tributes