VJ Day 80 marked by Lieutenancy

Events have taken place across Scotland to mark the 80^th anniversary of VJ Day, when Japan surrendered bringing World War Two to an end.

A service of remembrance, led by the Reverend Sue MacGregor of Helensburgh Parish Church, was held at the Cenotaph in the town’s Hermitage Park.

Dr Gill Aitkenhead MBE DL laid the Dunbartonshire Lieutenancy Wreath on behalf of His Majesty the King.

A lone piper played a lament and standard bearers from the Royal British Legion paraded to mark the event.

Also laying wreaths were family members of prisoners of war of the Japanese and relatives of the 800 men who were killed when the Lisbon Maru, a Japanese merchant ship carrying Allied POWs between Hong Kong and Japan, was sunk by the American submarine the USS Grouper in October 1942.

VJ Day, an abbreviation for victory over Japan, came two weeks after the allies dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The event was celebrated around the world, bringing peace after six years of war, and is marked annually.