The Kaipara Memorial RSA will be commemorating the 75th Anniversary of VJ Day on Saturday 15th August, 1700 hours (5.00pm) with a parade and service at the Helensville War Memorial Hall Cenotaph. All Veterans and members of the public are invited to attend and encouraged to wear their medals or the medals of their relatives (on the right hand side). Wreaths can be laid.
Thousands of New Zealanders fought in the Pacific War in the 1940’s. The Pacific war is an irony for an ocean named for peace, but became an arena of battle between Japan on one side and the USA, Australia, New Zealand and their allies on the other. It was a war fought on a vast scale, from Darwin to Midway, the Solomon’s to Iwo Jima, starting with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour on 7th December 1941 and Britain, USA, Australia and NZ declaring war on Japan the next day. It would be a long four years, costing tens of thousands lives on both sides, before Japan surrendered on the 15th August 1945, bringing World War Two to an end.
