Posted on 08/14/2005 9:06:49 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
THOUSANDS of people have gathered around Australia to remember the 60th anniversary of Victory in the Pacific and the end of World War II.
Prime Minister John Howard and other VIPs including Japan's ambassador laid wreaths at the cenotaph at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra to commemorate those who fought and died. Young Australian of the year Khoa Do urged a spirit of generosity and selflessness to fulfil the dream of those who fought 60 years ago.
Mr Do called on all young Australians to remember all those who gave their lives in the quest for peace, to remember the families whose lives were shattered and remember that the effects of war last a lifetime.
"To me there is no better way to pay tribute to their sacrifices than by continuing to embrace this Australian spirit of selflessness, generosity and empathy," he said.
"It will only be through selflessness and empathy that we can guarantee that a war of the magnitude of the Second World War will never occur again.
Advertisement: The Canberra service culminated with a flypast of World War II vintage and modern aircraft. Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile said the best way to honour Australians who served in the Second World War was to remember why they had to fight and learn the lessons of those terrible days.
Speaking at a VP Day anniversary ceremony at the Taree RSL Club in his NSW electorate of Lyne, Mr Vaile said the first lesson was that freedom carried a price.
"It is not guaranteed. It has to be defended by each generation anew," he said.
"It doesn't matter whether the threat is Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan or Islamic terrorism, there will always be people who prefer the Munich option of appeasement. The experience of our veterans shows how wrong they are."
Mr Vaile said democracies like Australia possessed great reserves of patriotism and determination that were unsuspected by foes and often unrecognised by ourselves.
He said Hitler believed western democracies were decadent and ineffective and Imperial Japan believed they were weak and divided.
"The Islamic terrorists today see only the froth and bubble of our consumer society. They do not understand the quiet determination of people who are free," he said.
"So today we salute the million Australians who served in the war. We honour the thirty thousand of our number who were taken prisoner; we mourn the forty thousand who did not return."
WTH, VJ day has now become PC with VP day????? Maybe we can now call VE day, VD day, as there was lots of it going around after the war ended in Europe.
We've had great discussions Down here on that very subject. It seems VJ Day is the day Japan surrendered. VP Day is the day the war officially ended...or so I'm told.
It is still VJ day!
Kill Japs, Kill Japs, Kill Japs.
Happy VJ Day Thanks Harry.
Isn't it ever so slightly sad that some choose to argue the toss on the name of the day instead of honouring those brave men and women who made such a day possible?
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