A British veteran has spoken about how he witnessed Japan’s wartime surrender up close as a 20-year-old sailor.
Reg Draper was off Japan’s coast on the HMS Duke of York when the captain announced the war was ending.
Recalling that moment – 80 years ago today – he said cheers went up from the battleship’s crew.
Mr Draper saw the Japanese sign the agreement on USS Missouri when he went on board to help his friend, who was the ship’s photographer.
“All the ships mustered in Tokyo Bay with the USS Missouri, which was the American ship, and it was on the Missouri where they signed the peace treaty,” the 100-year-old recalled.
“Then we all came back down to Australia and we went and celebrated – we went down to Tasmania and everybody had four days leave in Hobart.
“Everybody wanted to take us to their home and there were a couple of dances in the dance hall.”
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Mr Draper, who grew up in Leeds, was a stores assistant on the Duke of York after volunteering on his 18th birthday.
His duties included rationing out the rum so all the sailors could get their 11am hit. He said senior crew got theirs neat while everyone else had theirs watered down.
He also recalled being clattered by Prince Philip after the Queen’s future husband, who was on a destroyer escorting his ship, came aboard.
“We used to have deck hockey on the quarter deck and it was murder playing deck hockey,” said Mr Draper.
“He [Philip] knocked me over once and then the next time he came round he hit me, there’s still a mark there, he gave me a clout with his hockey stick.
“He came to see me just to see how I was. They just put a stitch in and it was alright.”
The pair met again in 1972 when Mr Draper was training sea cadets for the Duke of Edinburgh awards.
He said Philip noticed his medals and recalled escorting the ship – but didn’t mention the hockey game.
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Mr Draper’s time on the Duke of York included Arctic convoys to deliver supplies to Russia and sailing to Sydney, Australia, in 1945 before joining the East Indies Fleet.
“We started going up to the islands, kicking the Japanese out of the islands as we went,” he recalled.
Japan surrendered after the US dropped two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on 6 and 9 August.
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Mr Draper turned 21 on the trip back to Europe and said 2,000 people were on board as they had picked up prisoners of war.
He went on to become an insurance salesman and said he’s planning to watch today’s 80th anniversary commemorations from his home in Elton, Cheshire.
The King released an audio message in which he said the sacrifices of VJ Day veterans should “never be forgotten”.
He described how the heroic actions of those sent to fight in the Far East, as well as the brutal treatment of civilians, “reminds us that war’s true cost extends beyond battlefields, touching every aspect of life”.
