A FORMER Wiltshire Yeomanry Colour Sergeant has criticised Trowbridge Town Council for not marking the 75th anniversary of VJ Day on Saturday.

Ex-Grenadier Guardsman Brian Mitchell said he went to the Trowbridge war memorial on Saturday to find it locked and no flag flying.

"It's an absolute disgrace," said Mr Mitchell, 80, of Pitman Avenue. "I think it's all wrong.

"I went there on Saturday to pay my respects as my brother died and there was no-one there. There was no flag flying and it was locked .

"Trowbridge is the county town and we should be showing the way to the rest of Wiltshire. It just shows that this town council has got no interest and no thought whatsoever."

Eventually, Mr Mitchell was joined by Trowbridge RBL standard bearer Terry Davis and another man, who did not wish to give his name, to remember and recognise all those who served and sacrificed in the Far East.

The event marked Victory over Japan on August 15 1945 and the end of the Second World War following Victory in Europe on May 8 of that year.

This year's commemorations for the 75th anniversary of both events have been somewhat muted because of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Some residents in Thirsk Drive, Trowbridge, attended a commemoration organised by Bill and Jill Sherman and Rod and Sandra Blake.

They commemorated the life of Jill and Sandra's father, Corporal Ernest Griffiths, who fought in the battle of Kohima, the turning point of the Japanese offensive in the Far East.

Mrs Sherman, the eldest of four sisters, and Mrs Blake are pictured with the medals and commemorative sword awarded to Cpl Griffiths.

She said: "My father survived the war in the Far East and came home via Liverpool, where he had been born.

"He was stationed at Warminster and met my mother Muriel Roberts and married. He died ten years after mum, in October 2004, aged 81."

Bradford on Avon mayor, Cllr Simon McNeill-Ritchie, laid a wreath at the war memorial, watched by James Crawford, the Royal British Legion’s local poppy appeal organiser.

The scene was repeated in other market towns and villages across the region, with 'socially distanced' ceremonies taking place.

In Melksham, mayor Cllr Pat Aves attended a ceremony outside the town hall with deputy mayor Cllr Geoff Mitcham, while Melksham town crier Peter Dauncey gave one of the nation's Cries for Peace.

Cllr Aves said: "VJ Day means more to me than Remembrance Day because my father was in Burma and came back affected by what happened to him as a prisoner of war.

"He was a difficult man to live with. He was very troubled.It just wrecked his life."

The Red Arrow aerobatic display team were due to fly over Melksham at 5.11pm on Saturday but instead landed at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire because of the poor weather conditions.

In Westbury, local Royal British Legion chairman Major John Titley and branch secretary Norman Fenton laid VJ Day wreaths after the two-minute silence and the Last Post.

Mr Fenton said: "Local people also approached us to make donations."

Nationally, people were encouraged to join in the UK VJ Day 75th anniversary by sharing their stories and by watching events broadcast by the BBC from the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

They included the Last Post, the two-minute silence at 11am and a 'Cry for Peace' by town criers across the country.

In the evening, a national tribute was broadcast on the BBC from 8.30pm to 10pm.