We may know about Pearl Harbor and how the war against Japan ended with the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But in popular memory, what happened in between is less well-known. Marking the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, we hear of how defeat turned to victory, from epic battles in jungles, to one that played out on a tennis court and saved the British Empire, through remarkable testimonies from British, Indian, and Japanese soldiers who were there, as well as former prisoners of war and civilian internees. Plus we speak to descendants across Britain who are uncovering a family member's story of heroism, imprisonment, and survival.

In this final episode, Joe follows the opening of a public memorial and engages with a private reckoning.

Written and presented by Joe Dunthorne (based on his book Children of Radium: A Buried Inheritance)

In Munich, Joe traces a very different side to his family history, events that were left out of his great-grandfather’s memoir.

Written and presented by Joe Dunthorne

After the war, Joe's great-grandfather attempts to build a new life in the United States where his mental health begins to deteriorate.

Written and presented by Joe Dunthorne

A letter from Joe’s great-grandfather, leads him to the east of Turkey and the story of a massacre, kept silent for many years

Written and presented by Joe Dunthorne

Joe follows in his great-grandfather's footsteps to Turkey where he was employed, it seems, making gas masks.

Written and presented by Joe Dunthorne

Joe's research into his great-grandfather's work takes him to Ammendorf, south of Berlin - one of the key sites of Nazi Germany's chemical weapons production.

Written and presented by Joe Dunthorne

Dangers lurk beneath the soil, in the town where Joe's great-grandfather worked.

Written and presented by Joe Dunthorne

Drawn to a family legend about his German-Jewish family’s dramatic escape from Nazi Germany in 1936, the writer Joe Dunthorne accidentally discovers a far more disturbing history.

A conversation with his granny, who spent her childhood brushing her teeth with the radioactive toothpaste her father Siegfried manufactured, leads Joe to finally read his great-grandfather's nearly 2000-page long unpublished memoir. Hidden on page 1692 he finds an unsettling confession.

Written and presented by Joe Dunthorne, (based on his book Children of Radium: A Buried Inheritance)

Drawn to a family legend about his German-Jewish family’s dramatic escape from Nazi Germany in 1936, the writer Joe Dunthorne accidentally discovers a far more unsettling history.

A confession hidden on page 1692 of his great-grandfather Siegfried’s unpublished memoir leads Joe into a story of radioactive toothpaste, unexploded bombs and erased histories, exploring the many ways the past continues to haunt the present - even when we try to ignore it.

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4