Prince of Wales hails Burma Star veterans

THE Prince of Wales has spoken of his “regret” that the brave service of Burma Star veterans was “overshadowed” by other campaigns of the Second World War, as he says it is hard for the public to now grasp the “sheer brutality” they faced at the hands of the Japanese.

The Prince, who has just become patron of the Burma Star Memorial Fund, said the “ruthless and cruel” treatment of the Allied forces at the hands of their enemy and in prisoner-of-war camps must not be forgotten.

In a reception at Clarence House on Monday night, he met the last remaining Burma Star veterans to offer his respects for “what must have seemed an interminable and terrible campaign”, telling them: “We salute you with all our hearts.”

“As the 75th anniversary of the end of the war in south-east Asia approaches, it is hard for us to appreciate fully the appalling suffering and privations endured by those who fought in Burma,” he said.

Saying he had learnt details of the “gruelling” Burma mission from his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten and Field Marshal Slim, he described “a campaign which I regret to say was somewhat overshadowed in the public consciousness by events in Normandy and north Africa, despite the fact that no fewer than 29 Victoria Crosses were awarded during the Burma campaign – the highest tally of any theatre of war”.

“It is so hard for us now, 75 years later, to appreciate fully what all our forces had to bear in terms of the sheer brutality of the Japanese, whether on the battlefield or in the horror of the prison camps,” he said. “So let us never forget the prisoners of war who suffered so dreadfully at the hands of a ruthless and cruel enemy.”

The Prince also praised a multinational scholarship programme in the fund’s name that supports young people in engineering and global health.