The Royal British Legion have revealed their plans to honour veterans on the 80th anniversary of VE Day – and are encouraging people throughout the land to pitch in
The Royal British Legion as they reveal plans for an 80th anniversary VE Day Tea Party(Image: RBL)
The nation is being urged to join heroic veterans of World War II and say a giant thank you to them for one last time. The Royal British Legion are expecting the largest gathering of surviving veterans to attend the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire for the 80th anniversary of VE Day on May 8th. And they fear it could be the “last chance” the nation has to honour those who fought for freedom.
The public are being asked to join in and party like these veterans did in 1945 during “euphoric” scenes celebrating the end of war in Europe. The RBL said they wanted veterans to be “at the heart” of their celebrations after receiving hundreds of responses to their appeal, asking those who served to come forward and take part.
The Royal British Legion Tea Party (Image: RBL)
Six of those helping the nation remember, attended an RBL tea party at The Ritz on Friday, and described the VE Day anniversary as a “special moment for the country”.
Mark Atkinson, director general of the Royal British Legion, said: “The Royal British Legion is incredibly proud to be putting veterans at the heart of these celebrations…This is one of the last chances the nation will have to pay tribute to the bravery and sacrifice of the Second World War generation, and to thank the small number of veterans still with us today.
“It feels an incredibly poignant time 80 years on just to stop and pause and thank people. We’re in touch with more than 100 Second World War veterans, and we’ll be supporting them to get involved if they can. There are so few of those Second World War veterans left, hence it feels such a special time to pull them together, to hear their stories, to reunite them and to pay respect for everything they’ve done.”
Six of these heroes, all aged between 96 and 100, told of the “joyous” and “crazy” partying that erupted on Tuesday, May 8th 1945, after six years of devastating conflict.
The group, which included a codebreaker, an RAF mechanic and a D-Day infantryman, shared wartime stories and spoke to schoolchildren about their experiences.
They chatted in the Ritz, where Princess Elizabeth, then 19 and her 14-year-old little sister, Princess Margaret did the conga, after slipping away from Buckingham Palace to join the crowds celebrating.
D-Day veteran and codebreaker Bernard Morgan, 100, who lives in Crewe, told how he still has the original top secret telex messages declaring the war was over.
He takes good care of the original telex he received two days before VE Day was officially announced, which says: ‘German war now over, surrender effective sometime tomorrow.’“
About his VE Day memories, he told The Mirror: “It was a great atmosphere. Some of the lads went to the forest and shot a deer…We had a big party, they chopped down trees from the local wood and had a giant bonfire. There was a lot of singing.”
He added: “It’s great what the Royal British Legion is doing, bringing veterans together for what will be a very special day for us again.”
Joyce Wilding, 100, from Surrey, was in ‘Churchill’s Secret Army’, the Special Operations Executive (SOE) plotting to disrupt the Nazis behind enemy lines.
She served at Thame Park in Oxfordshire, a stately home, and her work involved tuning powerful radios to receive messages from agents in occupied Europe.
“It was all very secret,” she said, describing how on VE Day, she was given the day off work and headed to London.
About the occasion, she said: “I always use the word joyous, because there had been those years of blackouts, air raids and bombings and so many people being killed, and gloomy times, and very worrying.
“We went to Piccadilly where there was a stream of people singing and dancing; we joined a crocodile down Piccadilly; there were soldiers up lampposts, it was extraordinary.
“I can’t remember ever having to pay for anything, they gave us drinks.
“Being outside the Palace, you could hardly move. There were so many people cheering and singing. It was jam packed. It was a day one would never forget.
“It was just a joyous occasion, and everyone went wild and mad when they saw Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret with Churchill and the King and Queen.”
Ruth Bourne, 98, from London, worked at Bletchley Park where codebreakers intercepted Nazi messages.
On VE Day, she ended up outside Buckingham Palace and said: “I think the royal family had already been out once, the crowd was kind of abuzz, and we started shouting ‘We want the King’.
“Eventually, they came out, the King, the Queen and the two princesses. We all went absolutely crazy, shouting and cheering. It was a great, euphoric feeling.”
She ended up “doing the conga” adding: “I don’t think anyone anywhere went to bed that night, it was such a party spirit, everybody just feeling happy and glad it was all over.”
She says the anniversary will be “a special moment for the country” which “should remind us all of what we owe those who fought and those who lost their lives.”
War-time evacuee who later became a munitions worker, Doreen Mills, 96, from London, told of partying with American soldiers on VE Day.
She said: “I have fabulous memories of this day when I went with my sisters and friends… We danced all night in the crowds, everyone knew the two Princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret, were among us, it was so exciting.
“My dad was worried as there were crowds and crowds of people and wanted us girls home, but I can still feel the excitement when I look at photos or news reels.
“We knew we had to get home because mum and dad would get mad if we were out late…We got home alright, we’ve talked about it ever since.”
The Royal British Legion announces plans for an 80th anniversary VE Day Tea Party at the National Memorial Arboretum(Image: RBL)
Gilbert Clarke, 98, volunteered from Jamaica in 1943 to join the RAF as a mechanic after lying about his age.
After crossing the Atlantic Ocean and dodging U-boats to reach the UK, he served at airbases servicing Hurricanes, Spitfires and Lancaster bombers.
He told how “the sky filled with planes as far as the eye could see on D-Day, flying towards Europe.”
Recalling the excitement of VE Day, Gilbert said: “When we heard the news I remember celebrating – everyone was so relieved that the war was over.
“I volunteered from Jamaica out of a sense of duty, to play my part in ensuring we left the world a better place for everyone.”
D-Day veteran Joe Mines, 100, from Hornchurch, is thrilled to be joining the celebrations, and said: “I was a very reluctant soldier, I didn’t want to be in the battlefield at all, I thought I would be doing admin duties because of my age, but they suddenly decided they needed an extra five men to go and do mine clearing, and I got picked because of my surname!
“I was never trained for combat, but you just had to go and do it. I’m proud to be joining the Royal British Legion’s commemorations, to be part of this very special anniversary, and to remember what it was like celebrating Victory after so much fighting, and to honour those who never came home.”