VJ Day: Memorials added to 'rare' listed Cambridgeshire churches

A church with a "rare" chapel marking the return of a Japanese prisoner of war has had its Grade I listing updated for the 75th anniversary of the end of World War Two.

The dedication was added to a church in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, after Lord De Ramsey returned from captivity.

A second Cambridgeshire church with a memorial to those who died in East Asia has been updated by Historic England.

The conflict ended on 15 August 1945 when Japan announced its surrender.

It is known as Victory in Japan or VJ Day.

It is estimated there were 71,000 British and Commonwealth casualties of the war against Japan, including more than 12,000 prisoners of war who died in Japanese captivity.

There are 25 memorials in churches to those killed while "chapels devoted to giving thanks for those surviving are even rarer", according to Historic England.

Lord De Ramsey, whose father died during World War One, was a captain in the Royal Artillery when he was taken prisoner.

The south aisle of St Thomas a Becket's church was converted to a Lady Chapel - a part of the church dedicated to the Virgin Mary - and a plaque giving thanks for his survival added in 1956, five years after the church was listed.

The details of the memorial have now been added to the church's listing.

St Peter's and Paul's church in Wisbech has a memorial tablet to those killed in action or in captivity in East Asia, which have now been added to the church's listed entry.

Claudia Kenyatta, director of regions at Historic England said: "We are surrounded by surviving physical evidence of World War Two... however memorials that commemorate the Allied forces fighting in [East Asia] are surprisingly rare in England."

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