Elton, Derbyshire

VJ Day – A Preface to ‘Elton Remembers’

To view the VJ Day preface to Elton Remembers, please click here or on the image to the right.

We marked the 75th Anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day on our village web site by publication of a scanned copy of the previously existing booklet Elton Remembers and a digital version of a new Supplement to it.

On Saturday 15 August 2020 we mark the 75th Anniversary of Victory over Japan (VJ) Day.  VJ Day was the final end of World War Two.  We don’t currently know whether any of the 23 men from Elton who served in the armed forces in that war were serving in the Far East on VJ Day.  (It would be good to check if we can!) However, if the Japanese had not surrendered, many of those who were serving elsewhere and had not been demobbed and who hoped their war had ended on VE Day would have been sent to the Far East to fight there.  Defeat of Japan by the invasion of the Japanese mainland would have been very, very bloody.  Victory over Japan was therefore a great relief to them and to all their families and loved ones.

To coincide with VJ Day, Elton Local History Group has prepared a Preface to Elton Remembers and its Supplement.  It is an extract from an article written by His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, president of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission,  for the 75th Anniversary of VE Day.  He has kindly given permission for its use as part of Elton Remembers.  It sets our local remembrance into the national and indeed international context.  This is now published here on our web site.

There are some possible next steps in the business of Elton Remembers:

• Rework the original Elton Remembers into a fully digitised format, rather than a scanned copy.  Amend it as appropriate.
• Work through some of the projects suggested in the Supplement, including research from historical sources and interviews with the last few individuals who remember Elton during World War Two, to improve and possibly finalise it.  This might be of interest to young people and possibly Elton School.
• Combine Elton Remembers, the Supplement and its new Preface into one digital book to be published on our village web site.
• Then consider printing copies to order.

Elton Local History Group would welcome any volunteers who would like to help on these next steps.

As Lord Kitchener might have put it, with a stern face and a pointing finger:

“Your Local History Group Needs You!”

Or as President John F Kennedy might have put it with rather more charm:

“Ask not what your Local History Group can do for you. Ask what you can do for your Local History Group.”

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