Fallen soldier honoured after son’s campaign
Norfolk town adds name to its war memorial after appeals by family and Royal British Legion
A SOLDIER killed by Japanese troops has had his name etched on his town’s war memorial in time for VJ Day after he was ruled out 70 years ago for not being born there.
Despite dying in action in the Second World War, as he helped defend a bridge against the Japanese at Johor, Malaysia, Pte Norman Stevenson, who served with the Royal Norfolk Regiment, 5th Battalion, was not acknowledged on the memorial in his adopted home town of Thetford, Norfolk.
Local authorities felt despite Pte Stevenson settling in Thetford after meeting his wife before the war, because he was originally from Liverpool his name could not be included among the soldiers who hailed from the town.
But as the country commemorates the 75th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day, the day the Second World War officially ended, his son, Colin, has finally succeeded in getting his father’s name on the memorial.
“My grandfather and my mother were told by officialdom that it was because he wasn’t born in Thetford and the memorial was for Thetford boys,” Mr Stevenson, 79, said.
Last year he contacted the Royal British Legion’s Thetford branch and between them and the local council “moved heaven and earth – and his name is finally on the memorial”.
He said: “It was an overwhelming moment, but I was so pleased. All the boys who served should be on a memorial and I’ll be there to pay my respects.”
Today Mr Stevenson joins the nation as it remembers the 71,000 British and Commonwealth troops who died during the war against Japan, 12,000 of them in Japanese captivity. Commemorations include a National Service of Remembrance at the National Memorial Arboretum; a fly-past over the four Home Nations by the Red Arrows; and a cultural tribute by the Armed Forces.
While the pandemic prevented a large public event, the Royal British Legion will host veterans in a safe way at the service.
To signify the moment the UK woke up to peace on this day in 1945, at 6am today military pipers are due to perform When the Battle’s O’er aboard HMS Belfast and at the NMA, following earlier tributes in India, Australia, New Zealand and Nepal.
Later, Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, is due to lay a reef at the Cenotaph before the National Service Remembrance commenced.
In attendance are the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, Boris Johnson, Mr Wallace, Gen Sir Nick Carter, Second World War veterans, their carers and families.
Commemorating those involved in VJ Day, the Prime Minister acknowledged they were often “overshadowed in popular imagination by the conflict in Europe”.
But he added: “You fought for freedom, brought the Second World War to its end, and restored peace and prosperity to the world.”