Southend veteran says "there are not many of us left" on VJ Day anniversary
It is the 80th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day (VJ Day)
A 99-year-old Second World War veteran from Southend-on-Sea says that there are "not many of us left" on the 80th anniversary of VJ Day.
Dougie Shelley joined the Royal Navy as a 17-year-old. He was out in the Far East at the end of the war and described survivors as "lucky fellas".
Mr Shelley says that he will turn 100 next month: "Yep, an old, old sailor of 100-years-old."
"There's not many of us left, mate. We've sailed the seven seas."
"At the end of the war we were out in the Far East but we came into Hong Kong, and that's where it was at the end of the war."
Mr Shelley served on several ships, including the HMS Milne. He described the ship as "the biggest the Royal Navy ever built" at the time.
His carer, Paul Bennett, 77, said that he will watch the VJ Day service on TV with Mr Shelley.
Mr Bennett, who served in the army and met Mr Shelley at a local veterans club in 2016, does his shopping, cleaning, laundry and other tasks for him. He said: "I do it out of respect for him and his service."
"He tells me he got sunk twice when he was in the Arctic and managed to survive both sinkings."
"Then he was there on D-Day in the Milne supporting chaps going off to land in craft ashore in Normandy and he was a gunner keeping the skies clear of enemy aircraft and all that sort of thing."
"So, he's done his bit."
Mr Shelley left the navy in 1947. He "went back to the merchant navy for some years."