Daughter calls for recognition of VJ Day
Tom survived being captured by Japanese and working on railway
My own Dad...he came home weighing six stone, a 5’10” man of skin and bone
A HINCKLEY woman is backing a petition asking the government to remember VJ Day and the “Forgotten Army” who served in the Far East.
Suzanne Moreton is campaigning for the petition in honour of her dad, 99-yearold Tom Sansome, who was involved in the conflict in the Far East with the Leicestershire Regiment.
During the conflict, many men from Hinckley and district served their country.
Heartbreakingly, at the Fall of Singapore in February 1942 until the Japanese surrender in 1945, many of these men were taken prisoner, starved, beaten, tortured and worked to death.
Many also suffered from malaria, Beriberi, and other numerous tropical diseases and injuries.
Witnessing the brutalities and obscenities wreaked upon friends, they cleared the jungle for the infamous Railway.
Suzanne said that the men who served deserved to be remembered for the horrific hardships they suffered. Her petition aims to make VJ Day, or the day the Japanese surrendered during WWII on August 15, to be recognised and celebrated as much as VE Day.
She added: “My own Dad...he came home weighing six stone, a 5’10” man of skin & bone. 25 per cent never made it home, those that did carried the effects both mentally and physically for the rest of their, sometimes short, lives.
“For this reason we are petitioning the Government to acknowledge the debt we owe and for VJ Day to be properly celebrated. The end of WW2 came with the Japanese surrender and should be marked as such.
“These men - and women - have for a long time been the Forgotten Army. This is our last chance right.”
The petition currently has 12,600 signatures and can be signed until July 17.
It was launched by a lady called Ellie Taylor from the Far Eastern Prisoners of War group.
The petition can be signed by visiting https://petition. parliament.uk/petitions/236760 to put this