Maidenhead's VJ Day heroes remembered on 80th anniversary

Today (Friday) is the 80th anniversary of VJ Day – the end of the Second World War.

To mark the occasion, the Advertiser has delved into the stories of those people from the Maidenhead area who served right until the very end of the global conflict.

Life-long Maidonian Fred Hatch, born in December 1920.

Part of a Taplow-based territorial army unit, Fred was one of the first men called up to fight the Nazis in northern France when war erupted.

Fred, a sergeant in the Royal Artillery, was one of the lucky soldiers evacuated on the flotilla of small boats out of Dunkirk in 1940, with the tide of war well against Britain and its allies.

After only a few weeks back in the UK, he was redeployed to Asia where the British Army was fighting a battle just as challenging – in the jungles and mountain passes of Burma (Myanmar).

He fought in two pivotal battles at Kohima and Imphal in 1944, where a Japanese invasion of India was thwarted in what are hailed as two of the greatest victories of the war for Britain.

Fred continued the fight right up until VJ Day, and when the war finished, he returned to Maidenhead – and civilian life as a manager at Universal Stationers in Queen Street.

He passed away in May 1986 aged 65.

Fred is one of the tens of thousands of recipients of the Burma Star – a medal for those who served in the Burma conflict.

Several women from Maidenhead were bestowed the award, including Beryl Emily Truter.

Beryl, a nurse who also received the Victory Medal for service in the First World War, worked at a field hospital in the Kohima front. She lived in Keble Road in Furze Platt.

Also in the Advertiser’s archives, is mention of Maidenhead-born Heather Truscott Bax.

Heather, who qualified for the Burma Star, joined the town’s Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nursing corps and left the UK to serve in Assam and Bengal in India in 1944.

Others include Leonard King, who signed up to fight at the outbreak of war in 1939, and served in India and Burma performing communications work with the RAF.

Leonard lived in Oaken Grove from 1965 until his death in 2008.

Fred Hatch is the father-in-law of Ray Williams, the secretary of the Royal British Legion Maidenhead branch.

The British 14th Army, that continued a gruelling campaign far from home – and for months after VE Day (May 8), is often referred to as the ‘forgotten army’.

Mr Williams said: “For civilians in England, the war was over – there was no more bombing, that was one of the principal things – that was it.

“But of course, the Japanese didn’t bomb Britain. And so the poor people who were still out there were still fighting.

“They, of course, saw all the celebrations going on back in Europe for VE Day and they thought, ‘hang on a minute, we’re still fighting out here’.”

A VJ Day remembrance service will take place at All Saints Church in Boyn Hill, Maidenhead at 10am on Sunday (August 17).

Anyone with connections to the conflict, or simply wishes to commemorate it, has been invited to attend.