James Fenton, one of the Isle of Man’s finest ambassadors, has travelled from Douglas to the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire to take part in today’s national service marking the 80th anniversary of VJ Day.

Now 103, Mr Fenton served as a bombardier with the 178 Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, and was deployed to Burma at the age of 20.

He is among the last surviving members of the so-called ‘forgotten army’, whose gruelling campaign in the jungles of South-East Asia helped bring the Second World War to an end.

VJ Day, Victory over Japan Day, marks the moment Japan surrendered in August 1945.

In the UK and the Isle of Man it is observed on August 15, the day the surrender was announced, although the formal signing followed on September 2.

Friday’s commemorations at the Arboretum will include a guard of honour, flypasts by the Red Arrows and historic aircraft, royal attendance, and a nationwide two-minute silence broadcast live on BBC One.

Mr Fenton, who first settled in Port Erin after the war before moving to Douglas, chronicled his service through letters home, photographs and paintings.

Decades later, while clearing his parents’ house after their deaths in 1980, he discovered the letters he had sent from the front.

Those words and images were later gathered into a book, The Forgotten Army, preserving an intimate record of a young soldier’s war.

Despite his great age, Mr Fenton has continued to stand with his comrades.

In 2022, at 100, he travelled to the Cenotaph in London for Remembrance Sunday, marching alongside fellow veterans to honour the fallen.

Isle of Man Airport staff yesterday escorted Mr Fenton for his flight to Birmingham, noting the journey as a moment of reflection and gratitude for the nation.

And many islanders have expressed pride and their utmost respect to one of their own.