World War II veterans gathered in Scotland’s capital to mark the 70th anniversary of VJ Day.
While the war ended in Europe in May 1945, the conflict raged on for another three months in the Far East before Japanese forces finally surrendered on August 14.
The following day was celebrated as Victory over Japan Day.
The country had been left devastated after the Allies dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Soviet Union declared war and subsequently invaded Manchuria, which is now north-east China.
Among those present at the Legion Scotland event at Edinburgh’s Canongate Kirk were veterans Donald Christison and Jim Richardson, and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Mr Christison, who served with the Royal Navy on battleship HMS Duke of York, was in Hiroshima not long after the bomb was dropped and helped pick up troops who had been freed from prisoner of war camps.
The 89-year-old, from Edinburgh, said: “I was working with electrics down below in the ship where the hull was 15 inches thick. It was a scary place to be if we were torpedoed, you wouldn’t get out.”
His son, George, added: “As a five or six-year-old boy I remember playing with a lump of fused glass that my dad had brought back, which with hindsight was probably radioactive as it came from the bomb drop site.”
Mr Richardson was taken prisoner when his ship was sunk and he was held for nearly four years.
The 90-year-old still struggles to discuss his experience.
He said: “I don’t want to get into it. It was a very bad time.”
The Act of Remembrance at the VJ day event was led by Lieutenant General Sir Alistair Irwin CBE – the national president of Legion Scotland.
Similar VJ Day events were held across the UK.
In London, hundreds gathered on Horse Guards Parade to watch as a Dakota, Hurricane and a 21st century RAF Typhoon fast-jet flew past in tribute to the by thousands of Allied soldiers, sailors and airmen who took part in the fight against Japan.