WEST Somerset servicemen who saw action in the Far East will be taking part in national commemorations to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War Two. A total of 15 members of the local branch of the Burma Star Association will travel to London in August for a service of thanksgiving and wreath laying ceremony at the Cenotaph in memory of VJ Day. The journey will not be easy for many of the group, which includes nine former serving soldiers, along with widows and wives. The oldest member is 90 and at least two are wheelchair-bound. But the branch's determination to have a presence at the event has been rewarded with a grant from the Big Lottery Fund's Home Front Recall scheme. The initiative, run jointly with the Heritage Lottery Fund, supports activities commemorating the part played by those on the warfront six decades ago. West Somerset's Burma Star members have won a £1,854 grant to pay for coach travel to the capital and overnight accommodation costs at the Royal Horseguards Hotel. The trip will be particularly poignant for organiser Rob Johnson, at 81 the youngest of the group, who had been planning his first return trip to Burma in September. Ill health forced him to cancel his visit to the area where he spent more than three years on active service. "I was extremely disappointed, which is why going to London means so much to me and all the members," he said. "This is the 60th anniversary and none of us are likely to see another big commemoration. "This is the grand finale for remembrances for our generation." However, the West Somerset branch has made sure its name is on the map in the Far East. Last year one of its members took a handcrafted memorial cross, made of rosewood with ivory tips and made by Argentinian Indians, to the cemetery at Rangoon. "It now stands there as a memorial from our branch, so West Somerset is represented. "We have a place on the map."
