I CAN well understand the point N VJones is trying to make (Letters, Tuesday, March 29) concerning the date The Second World War ended.
I recollect the widespread hurt experienced in the Far East when people at home began celebrating.
Until that date we were unified fighting one war. They were proclaiming their war to be over while ours seemed destined to continue for years to come.
No one could have predicted the impact of the atomic bomb or that the Japanese would surrender so soon afterwards. Even then the ordeal for many was far from over. I have recollections of a hospital ship laden with released prisoners making an unscheduled call at Colombo requesting to disembark a number who were considered not well enough to continue the journey home.
We were able to accommodate most at our auxiliary naval hospital but believe me it was a long, long time before they or we could contemplate celebrating the end of hostilities.
By all means let us now commemorate the surrender of Germany and of Japan on the appropriate dates but let it not be in any sense a celebration of the end of the war.
JOHN HINTON,
Worcester
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