At noon today, in half an hour, there will be a two minute silence to mark VJ Day, the eightieth anniversary of the surrender of Japan and the effective end of World War Two

It doesn’t get the same attention as the end of the war in Europe but it matters to me and my family. My mother in law, now in her late eighties, was in Hong Kong when it fell to the Japanese. Her father was imprisoned in a PoW camp. She was sent with her mother and two brothers to Stanley Internment Camp. She was there for four years.

So I will pause to remember those who fought, those who died, those who were imprisoned, those who suffered. And I’ll reflect on today and how willing we seem to entertain the possibilities of similar suffering and pain.

More about today’s commemoration