THIS Saturday will mark 70 years since the Second World War finally ended with victory over Japan.

VE Day, which celebrates the victory in Europe earlier in May, is marked with parades, exhibitions and, this year, the lighting of beacons in Southend and Tilbury.

The sacrifice made by British troops fighting the Japanese in Asia and the Pacific is often overlooked, but the names on the Roll of Honour in Prittlewell Priory reveals men – and women – from Southend gave their lives to protect the British Empire in far flung places.

Chris Langdon, of Southend Museum, said: “VJ Day is often overshadowed by the geographically closer events in Europe earlier in May 1945.

“However, the theatre of operations in the Pacific drew vast resources from the British Empire, some 2.4 million troops, including a number of locals in the Southend area.”

The list in the priory includes a number of local servicemen and women from the Malaya defence forces and the 14th Army, often referred to as the “Forgotten Army”.

Many locals were attached to the newly-formed territorial battalions of the Suffolk Regiment, who surrendered or were killed in action at Singapore following the Japanese invasion of Malaya and the Battle of Singapore.

Others were killed or captured during the Dutch East Indies campaign.

Many died in prisoner of war camps in Thailand, building the Thailand- Burma railway or in factories on the Japanese mainland.

Equally, a number of locals were killed in the Burma Campaign, many of whom served in the Essex and Suffolk Regiments in 14th Army, as well as within the RAF operating over Burma and Thailand.

Mr Langdon said: “Researching these names is a very moving experience, given the number of casualties at the fall of Singapore on February 15, 1942.

“The circumstances surrounding their death become quickly apparent and is no less touching with each case.

“However, these are individually and collectively interesting stories to be shared, echoing the epitaph at Kohima War Cemetery: ‘When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say, For Your Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today’.”

An exhibition of Southend’s role in both the First and Second World Wars will be held at Prittlewell Priory’s visitor centre from next Wednesday to Sunday, August 23.