VE-Day 75

[AY Mod]

I did stick a sign up when we closed at 11.00 for the two minute's silence.

 

 

So now the bunting's gone up at the front.

 

 

The neighbours across the road have got their bunting out too so that constitutes a street party. Time to decorate the garden ready for afternoon tea, play some suitable music and end up with a drunken rendition of We'll Meet Again at 21.00

 

It's still a day to commemorate, just different from how it may have been.

[Alex TM]

23 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

a drunken rendition of We'll Meet Again at 21.00

Surely not; you'll not hear the broadcast by Her Majesty!  

[AY Mod]

39 minutes ago, Alex TM said:

Surely not; you'll not hear the broadcast by Her Majesty!  

 

Madge pre-recorded her bit days ago so we can Sky+ her whilst we have bits of her dad's speech plus music. Finescale partying you see. 

[The Stationmaster]

We have the bunting up and the socially distanced street party is scheduled to commence at 15.00.  Our neighbour opposite will shortly be conducting a practice on her keyboard for the accompanimen to 'We'll Meet Again'

 

[jonny777]

I'm keeping quiet, as my next door neighbours are Greek and I don't wish to upset them if they would prefer to forget the whole episode. 

 

On the other side of us, the woman has recurring skin cancer and is therefore in complete lockdown and also in a big panic because her regular appointments were suspended to free up space for Covid admissions. 

 

We have just found out that an ex-neighbour (and mother of three kids who were schoolmates of our children) has just passed away due to leukaemia. She was only in her early 60s poor soul. TBH, there is not a lot to get me in a party mood at the moment. 

 

 

[AY Mod]

How about a proper flypast for the day?

 

 

[queensquare]

We are making a day of it in our front gardens in the cul-de-sac, Kim and our neighbour taking tea in full costume. Will do more pictures later.

Jerry

 

[Bernard Lamb]

While it is very right and proper to celebrate VE Day please do not forget that the war was not over and many people in all three of the armed services were still in it up to their necks in Burma and other places. There were also around 100,000 service men still held as POWs by the Japanese with no idea of when or if the war would ever end.

Bernard 

[AY Mod]

11 minutes ago, Bernard Lamb said:

While it is very right and proper to celebrate VE Day please do not forget that the war was not over

 

KGVI and Winnie were both careful to get that message across in their speeches, no one's forgetting that but it's for another day. 

 

1 hour ago, jonny777 said:

my next door neighbours are Greek and I don't wish to upset them

 

I'd think it unlikely they would be offended. As a nation they suffered occupation and had a fierce resistance to the nazis. 

[Hroth]

2 hours ago, AY Mod said:

I did stick a sign up when we closed at 11.00 for the two minute's silence.

 

I was out with the rest of the road observing the Silence, so I missed your fine page, thanks for posting it here!

 

5 minutes ago, Bernard Lamb said:

While it is very right and proper to celebrate VE Day please do not forget that the war was not over and many people in all three of the armed services were still in it up to their necks in Burma and other places. There were also around 100,000 service men still held as POWs by the Japanese with no idea of when or if the war would ever end.

Bernard 

 

As with Captain Tom, my father was in the Burma campaign and though he was mainly an RAF backroom chap (who volunteered to fly as aircrew for the aerial resupply of the Imphal/Kohima garrisons in 1944) always said that the army had to fight the Japanese all the way down Burma and were dreading having to go onto Japan itself.

 

He passed away last year, I have his war medals, the 39-45 and Burma Stars, the Defence Medal and the War Medal (Just the ordinary stuff) on my desk at present.

 

[jonny777]

My wife's late father was in Burma during WW2. 

 

He was reluctant to talk about it, but occasionally would recount a few of the horrors of never knowing who might be lurking in the undergrowth. 

 

He also mentioned having to carry about 25 litres of drinking water every day. (I'm not sure if I have remembered the amount correctly, but it was a hell of a lot). On the first day, everyone thought "Do What?" but did it anyway because that was what they were told to do, all but this allegedly-mouthy Canadian who refused to carry all that un-necessary weight through the jungle. Halfway through the afternoon he collapsed and was removed by the medics, but the battalion learned of his death overnight due to organ failure brought on by severe dehydration. 

 

I gather the Japanese were real b******s. My best mate's father was a POW out there, and we were under strict instructions never ever to mention the war while in his house. Apparently, he would have flashbacks and the nights were the worst, as he would have nightmares and wake up screaming in bed on a regular basis. We know it now as serious PTSD but in those days it seemed to be one of those problems affected people just put up with. 

 

To all those who gave up everything in those dark years. We don't know how lucky we are.... 

[Alcanman]

On VE day my dad was in the RAF, 514 Sqdn, flying over Rotterdam, Holland dropping food parcels to the Dutch people who had been left starving by the Germans. 'Operation Manna' (manna from heaven).

[AY Mod]

A toast to the men and women of the allied forces and all who endured the war.

 

[queensquare]

Afternoon tea for Mr Churchills speech

Jerry

 

[Brinkly]

9 minutes ago, queensquare said:

Afternoon tea for Mr Churchills speech

Jerry

 

 

 

[darrel]

All train drivers in my company were instructed to blow our horns at 3PM to show our respect.

[AY Mod]

14 minutes ago, queensquare said:

Afternoon tea for Mr Churchills speech

Jerry

 

 

 

It's me brother from another mother!

 

[43110andyb]

Front garden party well under way here and took this earlier before everyone came out.

[phil-b259]

6 hours ago, jonny777 said:

 

We have just found out that an ex-neighbour (and mother of three kids who were schoolmates of our children) has just passed away due to leukaemia. She was only in her early 60s poor soul. TBH, there is not a lot to get me in a party mood at the moment. 

 

 

 

The wife of a long time friend (with two children under 10) succumbed to Secondary Cancer on Wednesday so I understand where you are coming from. She hadn't made 40...

 

Obviously around the country as a whole there will be others who have lost people in recent months who may feel the same way, and as such, commemoration rather than celebration might be a better way of looking at todays events.

 

Yes, back in 1945 there was much celebration that the (hot) war in Europe was over - but given subsequent events* we should be wary of placing too much emphasis on certain emotions....

 

 

 

*WW2 in Europe didn't technically end till 1990 when a newly reunited Germany signed a piece treaty with the UK France, the US and Russia (as successor to the USSR). For those who dismiss this as unimportant, those living under Communist oppression in Eastern Europe might not take the same view..

 

 

Edited May 8, 2020 by phil-b259

[Brinkly]

2 hours ago, AY Mod said:

 

 

It's me brother from another mother!

 

 

Interesting thought; make a note of it, Darling! 

[queensquare]

3 hours ago, AY Mod said:

 

 

It's me brother from another mother!

 

 

 

Scary!!!

 

Jerry

[chris p bacon]

I've posted before that Dad was a PoW (A Captive of the Kriegsmarine) and he didn't have a good time of it, but I did ask him shortly before he died if he ever saw a positive for his years in the camp....his reply was "Yes....I never had to listen to Vera B****y Lynn".....

 

He was a miserable old b*gger sometimes...I now know it's genetic.

 

I've got the bunting out just to annoy him 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

The 'socially distanced' street party lasted on and off until we bellowed 'We'll meet again at each other' to conclude. Lovely weather for it, lots of gardening discussions, some seeds and seedlings have been moved around (hygienically) and we set up 'viewings' so that 'our' blue tit pair's residence with very new hatchlings being fed could be seen. I shall assess the sunburn and mossie bites tomorrow.

 

 

[friscopete]

My daughter was bit shocked when she and the kids and dog  took a walk over Lightwater country park  in Surrey to find the streets full of OAP's dancing and boozing and everyone  carrying on as normal and close together . She wasnt very happy .Her and the kids may already have  had it early on before lock down via the local vets .Their version was short sharp and nasty but they all recovered quickly .She asked  the  NHS  line to be tested but was refused despite having all the  symptoms .She said it wasnt like the flu ,much more intense,much hotter . Another thing she noticed was her elderly neighbours in various houses all sit out now near each other  sharing drinks and fags .They didnt bother before the lock down .She lives in a close.

Edited May 8, 2020 by friscopete

[DaveF]

 

While I was getting Mum up, washed and dressed this morning I asked her what she could remember of VE Day.  She is 95.

 

She told me she was teaching Maths at the local girls grammar school (she was an ex pupil) as she was waiting to resit the final exams for her degree which had been interrupted and abandoned the previous year because of the V1 and V2 raids on London.  in the summer of 1945 she got her degree and for a time worked as a steam turbine designer at the Brush Works in Loughborough until the ex servicemen returned to do their normal work.

 

In the morning she went to the school as normal and taught the usual maths lessons, at lunchtime they were told to go home.  She joined the crowds celebrating in the town for the rest of the day and much of the night. 

 

At the time she was looking forward to her boyfriend coming home, he was in the navy.  It was a few days later when she heard his ship had been sunk earlier and he was lost.

 

Dad (Mum and he didn't met until 1947) was in India waiting to be posted somewhere to fight the Japanese.  He never did fight, he contracted amoebic dysentry and was eventually invalided out of the Army.  

 

David