this is bbc news, i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines... prince charles leads commemorations to mark the 75th anniversary of vj day, the day world war ii ended with victory over japan. we salute all those who remain among us and offer our most heartfelt and undying gratitude for those who are gone before. the prince of wales and veterans lay wreaths at the national memorial arboretum, as part of a service of remembrance. we'll have the latest from events in the uk and around the world, as we remember the day world war ii ended.

also, thousands of holiday—makers have arrived back in the uk after a last—minute dash to avoid a mandatory 2—week quarantine, which came into effect at 4am this morning. the government has said it will cover the cost of appeals against a—level results in england, after nearly 40% were downgraded. one student told the schools minister, he had ruined her life. minimumi minimum i needed abb, i only needed three c to get into the foundation course which was the back—up but on thursday i discovered i had been awarded three ds. and coming up, click looks at the tech rivalry between china and the west.

good afternoon. the prince of wales has led commemorations for the 75th anniversary of vj day, when japan's surrender ended the second world war. prince charles joined veterans and military personnel for a service at the national memorial arboretum in staffordshire. he paid tribute to the courage of those who fought, saying their service and sacrifice would "echo through the ages", and remembered all those who lives were blighted by the conflict. nicholas witchell reports. a lone piper at dawn, aboard hms belfast, marking the fact that 75 years ago this morning, the world awoke, finally, to peace. in the open spaces of the national memorial arboretum in staffordshire,

a carefully choreographed commemoration attended by a0 veterans who fought in the 14th, sometimes forgotten, army against a voracious enemy in some of the most army against a ferocious enemy in some of the most challenging of conditions. many tens of thousands of allied troops from many different nations lost their lives in the jungles of southeast asia and tens of thousands more died injapanese prisoner of war camps. they shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. at the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them. after the sounding of the last post by a royal marine bugler, a two—minute silence was led by the prince of wales. and in remembrance of lives lost from so many nations,

from the british and indian and other allied armies, wreaths were placed at memorials here and in many of the nations that and in remembrance of lives lost from so many nations, from the british and indian and other allied armies, wreaths were placed at memorials here and in many of the nations that were involved in the conflict. today, in this hallowed place, and in the presence of all those gathered here or in their homes, or wherever they may be, let us affirm that they and the surviving veterans are not forgotten.

rather, you are respected, thanked, and cherished with all our hearts and for all time. 75 years on, the forgotten army was remembered and its last survivors cherished. nicholas witchell, bbc news. and also as part of the commemorations, the raf‘s red arrows flew over belfast city centre. the aircraft passed the landmark titanic building and the harland and wolff shipyard cranes as they flew up belfast lough, leaving their famous red, white and blue smoke trails in their wake. let's speak now to david jervis, the nephew of flight lieutenantjohn round, who was killed in action flying his spitfire in burma just 9

weeks before the end of world war 2. thank you forjoining us here on bbc news. just tell me about your uncle. he was the son of captain henry around who himself was awarded the military cross in world war i for his work with military intelligence. john had a very happy childhood, five sisters, one brother, he was a keen sportsman, he was a junior boxing champion. and then at the age of 19 boxing champion. and then at the age ofi9 in boxing champion. and then at the age of 19 in 1941 he enlisted with feel royal air force. he went to america, trained as a pilot, he came back to england and served with 91 squadron on the south coast. where he was awarded the distinguished cross for his battles against the luftwaffe

and the bombing of, successful bombing of enemy shipping in the channel. eventually, he joined bombing of enemy shipping in the channel. eventually, hejoined 607 squadron and went to burma. after a brief sojourn in india. and he served fighting the japanese for various airfields in burma. he saw the fall of rangoon. one of the most important thing is the debt apart from fighting the enemy aircraft was —— one of the most important things they did was drop supplies to operations behind enemy lines. and he supported, he and his colleagues supported the 14th army as the work their way through in terrible conditions through burma. to remind oui’ conditions through burma. to remind our viewers, they carried out gorilla warfare behind enemy lines and some real stories of headache heroism there. i am looking at

archive footage you have given us. not quite —— he has got quite a jab there, hasn't he? what has it been like getting and correcting his stories and collecting the stories? it's been absolutely amazing because we have quite a large extended family and a number of us have got memorabilia and we have got it together and it's like slowly piecing together his life. we have the videos you mentioned and it's almost like getting to know him. it has been and continues to be a really fascinating experience and getting closer to the man that we have great pride in. we are hearing what you have described their and also his father refusing to go to buckingham palace because he didn't think he had done enough. he had not had face—to—face contact. these are heroes who are very modest and humble in terms of what they did for

their country. what is your feeling in terms of keeping these stories alive for future generations? it's incredibly important. i've got about 50 or 60 letters that he sent while he was serving and some of the ones from burma are so poignant, the desire for more cigarettes and a lea p desire for more cigarettes and a leap forjoy desire for more cigarettes and a leap for joy when desire for more cigarettes and a leap forjoy when any beer desire for more cigarettes and a leap for joy when any beer arrives and it he really wants to get some metals knock which some people might remember —— milk. his life and what they enjoyed must be preserved for ever. thank you very much indeed, sharing stories of his uncle who died aged 22 whilst serving as part of the burma campaign. the 14th army was one of the largest and most successful british and commonwealth forces

of the second world war. despite driving the previously undefeated japanese army from the indian border and out of burma, the men who fought in it are often referred to as the forgotten army. robert hall reminds us of their efforts.( robert hall reminds us of their efforts. it had started with a series of defeats. japanese forces had swept through the far east, driving britain and her allies back to the borders of india. thousands of soldiers were marched into captivity. many of them would be worked to death orfall victim to starvation and disease. in india, rajinder singh dhatt was among the young men who volunteered for the fight back. in our mind it was not only that we are indian, for only india we are fighting, but we are fighting for the globe, for peace and democracy, which we are enjoying today. in 1944, the japanese

attacked again. at kohima, 1500 commonwealth troops held back ten times their number. newsreel: men fling themselves across japanese barbed wire. .. eventually, the newly formed 14th army would begin its advance through the jungles of burma. it was difficult, getting throughjungle very often, you know. because more often than not you didn't stick to, you know, well—beaten tracks or anything like that. you know, that was asking for trouble. royal marinejim healy was aboard a landing craft during one seaborne assault. i hit a sandbank and of course it stopped me. i gave instructions to down ramp, the gurkhas went out. we came off the sandbank and i could have gone over them and killed them all. fortunately, my lad, the stoker behind me, he put it in reverse and it stopped me. the battles in burma were still being fought when news came of the japanese surrender.

newsreel: lord louis mountbatten, supreme allied commander in southeast asia, took the salute. the 14th army had helped to turn allied fortunes, and yet they claimed they were forgotten back home. if you look at the british nation, the war it had fought was the one that was on its doorstep. so it was looking to europe. and once that conflict comes to an end, the far east is very far away, it perhaps didn't come with the sense of relief that was delivered on ve day. on this anniversary, a virus has muted commemorations, but the forgotten army will be remembered. robert hall, bbc news. joining me now is major general john craig lawrence, a retired british army officer whose last appointment was as the director ofjoint warfare at the directorate ofjoint warfare. he is now an author and lecturer at the royal college of defence studies.

thank you for speaking to us here on bbc news. remind us why was the forgotten war and yet it played such a key pa rt forgotten war and yet it played such a key part in world war ii. thank you. it's very good question. there we re you. it's very good question. there were four main reasons and some of those came out this morning at the national arboretum. firstly in 1941, churchill and roosevelt agreed the priority was to beat germany first and they would worry about italy and japan secondly. the priority for the resources was then to fight in europe and defeat germany. also burma is a very long way from the uk. i googled it before we spoke this afternoon and it's 5500 miles from london to rangoon, that was before social media before widespread tv coverage. the other thing it was not good news is robert just explained. the start of the campaign from the outset in december 1941, almost like the way through until the backend of 43, britain was losing. britain lost singapore on

february 1942 with the loss of tens of thousands at christmas taken by the japanese. hong kong, christmas day 1941, rangoon the capital of burma fell and then the british took a mile retreat all the way up through the north to the north of burma and across into india. there was no way that would get good coverage when you think britain was also not doing well in europe. the last factor that did come out today thank goodness was that the majority of people fighting in the far east theatre were not british. they were essentially pre—partition india and commonwealth troops and if you look at the figures and these were used this morning in describing the battles, 306 to 5000 british personnel were part of the conflict which sounds a huge number 36 5000 but there were 2.5 million from partition end there what is now pakistan, india and bangladesh of

whom 35,000 were gurkhas. for those four reasons, it was not forgotten for those who took part but for understandable reasons it was not covered broadly in the uk. what was it about this for they were taking on? they had completely different codes of warfare. and honour. —— foe. did they adapt in how they took on the japanese? very much so and you raise an important point. the japanese hadn't fighting the chinese since 1941 north of burma so by the time the invaded malay and the attack on pearl harbor, they really knew what they were doing and had been doing it for four years. knew what they were doing and had been doing it forfour years. they we re been doing it forfour years. they were experts stop even the india army troops had been fighting a different battle on the border between pakistan and afghanistan so when they deployed into the jungle to ta ke when they deployed into the jungle to take on the japanese, it was really difficult, they did not know what they were doing, they did not for example think you could

penetrate to the jungle. the japanese saw the jungle is an opportunity to move under cover. the japanese used tanks in the jungle, something the british thought was impossible and it's really interesting the use bicycles. they could move infantry quickly by bicycle around the jungle through tracks. and it took until late 1943 until feed marshall later general took command of the 14th army and force the army to learn from the japanese lessons. i understand that they had no respect whatsoever for prisoner of four because they saw that as a complete loss of honour. to return back to the gurkhas, what is their lasting legacy?” to return back to the gurkhas, what is their lasting legacy? i think the expertise in the jungle, is their lasting legacy? i think the expertise in thejungle, one is their lasting legacy? i think the expertise in the jungle, one third of the world land masses is jungle or trees and so it's important to maintain that capability and the battalion based in brunei provides the uk's only trained and

acclimatised jungle capability so we have maintained the gurkhas have maintained that extreme professionalism and within the battalions themselves, within each of battalion two of the companies of around 100 men are named after people from the and —— gurkha campaign. the legacy lives on. major generaljohn craig lawrence, thank you for your time. thank you very much indeed. in tokyo, the japanese emperor naruhito has expressed deep remorse for his country's past military actions. the war was brought to an end shortly after the us dropped nuclear bombs over the cities of hiroshima and nagasaki. naruhito is the grandson of emperor hirohito in whose name imperial troops fought the war. translation: since the end of the war, 75 years have passed.

the relentless effort of the japanese people has built our country's peace and prosperity today. when thinking of the past, the hardship of our people, we reflect deeply. we are now facing a pandemic of covid—19 and we are facing new challenges, but we shall cooperate with each other to overcome this crisis. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's gavin. fans are back in the stands at the crucible theatre for the snooker world championship final as part of the governments plans to get crowds back at events. there are 300 watching on in sheffield as five time champion ronnie o'sullivan takes

on kyren wilson who's looking for his first world title. ronnie o'sullivan was leading 3—1 at the mid—session break. and here's live pictures from the crucible. kyren wilson has won the frame to make it 3—2. if o'sullivan wins he'll equal steve davis and ray reardon‘s record of 6 world titles, stephen hendry holds the record with 7. lewis hamilton has finished fastest in qualifying ahead of tomorrow's spanish grand prix, his 92nd career pole. merecedes take first and second as team—mate valterri bottas just misses out, to leave hamilton on pole position. red bulls max verstappen sits behind in third. verstappen 30 points behind hamilton who leads the drivers standings. there's not much bring you from day three of england's second test against pakistan. the weather has delayed the start, which was meant to be at 11 this morning. pakistan are 223—9, but there's no sign of play starting just yet,

with rain forecast in southampton where the match is taking place. there's a pitch inspection in the next few minutes. england currently lead the series 1—0. after a five month break, rugby union's premiership is back this weekend and gloucester will have enjoyed their return. they thrashed worcester 44—15 in a bonus point win at sixways earlier. worcester actually got off to the better start with a try in the second minute but that tackle from melani nanai was where the game changed. he was shown a red card and worcester couldn't compete from then. with gloucester running in 6 tries for a comfortable win. three other matches, in the premiership. right now, leaders exeter are up against leicester tigers. 19—6 into the second half there. and in the early stages

of bath v london irish. bristol get under way against relegated saracens at 430. one other line, former scotland captain john barclay has retired at the age of 33.. he made 76 international appearances, played cups and captained the team to their first calcutta cup win over england in a decade in 2018. barclay also spent 8 years at glasgow warriors, five with welsh side scarlets and had a spell at edinburgh. to a huge night in the champions league for manchester city now. a win over lyon will seal just their second ever semi final in the tournament. that would set up a shoot out against bayern munich, following their 8—2 demolition of barcelona for a spot in the final. but manager pep guardiola isn't getting carried away. we try to do our best, like all the other teams. we are here, we are prepared, we are prepared to go through but they are an opponent so try to put to mistakes like in this competition punish us and that is all. so the pressure is always there

to try to do our best and yeah, we will do it. despite celtic‘s game against aberdeen being postponed due to players breaking covid rules. there are three matches under way in the scottish premiership. ross county could move top with a win, but later hibs could jump back above them, and make it four wins from four when they take on motherwell. defending tour de france champion egan bernal has pulled out of the criterium du dauphine, the main warm—up race for the tour which starts in a fortnight‘s time. the colombian had finished stage three of the five—stage race yesterdayjust over half a minute behind leader primoz roglic, and was in seventh place overall. team—mate geraint thomas said bernal had a back problem.