VE Day “celebrations”

Vegansrock, firstly they shouldn't be meeting in groups to celebrate in any case. Secondly I'm like you, my Dad was in the Navy fighting in the Far East, so for him the end of WW2 was in early August. Not that he's here now to mourn his lost comrades or celebrate that the fighting was over. He was then in the Chindits, minesweeping in Indian Ocean so it must've felt that his war lasted much longer after the one in Europe, which he had previously fought in too. Aren't we lucky our Dads came through it all? We're lucky to have had them. So tomorrow I'll think of my mum's family, they all did war work despite her living at home with her parents, Mum in the Air Ministry, Granny in a bomb factory and Granddad was an Air Raid Warden, 75 years ago tomorrow must've been a wonderful day for them and for my uncle who was in RAF and aunt who was in WRNS, definitely a day to remember for their sakes as none of them is still here to celebrate the memory. I'll do it quietly though, no need for lots of fuss.

Our small neighbourhood community is doing very similar to yours Sadgrandma and we're all very much looking forward to it. Many of us have put small streams of flags from houses and fences and at 11 o'clock in the morning, we'll all be outside for the silent tribute, followed by a picnic at 2 o'clock. A little ray of something to look forward to, especially for those of us who haven't left their houses for weeks and it will be a chance to wave and smile at our neighbours and confirm that were still in the land of the living. Looking forward to it.

Remembering and giving gratitude are not the same as having a singalong or a boozy party. I certainly remember and give gratitude but I don’t have to dress up or have a picnic to do it.

In our road, one house has a huge flag on the front and bunting around all windows; two others have smaller displays of flags and bunting. I’ve sellotaped our 2 small flags that we take to the Proms onto a window. That is it for our road. A few other local roads have bunting and flags that we’ve seen on our daily walks.

vegansrock As far as I am aware it is not compulsory to "dress up and have a picnic". Some choose to, some choose not. We will all have people who served.

My father was in the D-Day landings, never spoke of what he saw and experienced until the last years of his life - one thing he always did was remember those of his comrades who didn't make it back whilst also celebrating that an evil regime had been defeated.

You do whatever you think is the most appropriate tomorrow vegansrock. One of the most significant things that our parents fought for in WW1 and WW2 was to have the freedom to live our lives as freely as possible. So when I'm standing in silence, alongside my neighbours, I'll be giving thanks to my Dad who spent the war fighting in the Middle East. And then I'll raise a glass to him and everyone else. And you can spend the day exactly as you see fit. Because you have the freedom to do so.

You'll have to excuse me now... I've got to put my flags up for tomorrow and dig out the picnic table.....

A dd told me today that her road - it’s very community minded - is holding a ‘distancing’ street party -dd and SiL will be barbecuing in their drive and little Gdcs have been making bunting with their dad.
Quite a few of the residents have young children, so it won’t be an ‘oldies’ thing.
Dd said she’ll be thinking of my parents - one of whom was on her own with a baby during the London Blitz, the other of whom was extremely lucky to survive 2 RN years of the Battle of the Atlantic.

My street has regular parties and socially distancing concerts. We have a concert tomorrow. I shall watch and have a drink - I'm not a complete old misery - I will enjoy it, but I'm not flag waving or dressing up and as far as I know no-one else is either. We have a charity bingo game as well, hosted by our resident comedian, I will probably donate a prize and may even join in - you never know. But its not because of VE day. My attitude may be because my Dad always maintained it wasn't the end of the war, as he was still risking getting blown up every day on a minesweeper, and another relative was still in a Japanese POW camp.

Same here Harrigan

And here Harrigan, no flag waving just quiet remembrance.

vegansrock Yes - afraid I feel fairly unenthusiastic about it all, too. Add to that, the European Union came about to prevent such a war happening again. Celebrating VE Day when we’re abandoning a peaceful ideal seems hypocritical at best - especially for Leave voters who will probably be making the loudest noise.

Personally I think that "celebrate VE day" has been taken up in such a popular manner at the moment is because we are all missing social contact. I live in a small cul de sac of only 20 houses. They have organised a socially distanced street party with bunting hung across the street. One of the neighbours has made red, white & blue streamers to attach to every front door. That's the only thing to have come out of this situation, I really believe it has brought communities closer together. I'll be out there tomorrow for a bit

Vegansrock - Am I just being an old misery? Err, yeah, sorry, but I think perhaps you are?

Please forgive me for being a “kill joy” but are gatherings against what the Government is suggesting we shouldn’t do. I heard tonight when we were clapping that someone is trying to organise drinks on our Green tomorrow. I would be all for this in normal conditions but surely this could be dangerous? It’s put me in a very awkward position. I do want to show my respect and to be sociable but frankly I just don’t want to risk it.

vegans rock: I won’t be ‘celebrating’ tomorrow. I honestly don’t know what there is to celebrate. It seems to me that the past few years have been one endless celebration of various world wars: beginning, ends etc etc. I don’t find anything to do with war celebratory. I’ll honour those who fought and died in my own way, and that includes honouring those from other countries that ‘won’ the war. I’m tired of people thinking we ‘won’ it all by ourselves. Look how many Russians died...

How people feel about it is how they feel.
I'm sure nobody is going to suddenly change their mind, so we all have to do what we feel is right.

If we wait to commemorate 100 years there won’t be anyone left who actually lived through it. That was the main reason for choosing this particular year.

Look how some people have struggled with six weeks of fairly humane lockdown so acknowledging the people who lived through far worse isn’t asking that much. Especially as those who disagree are free to make their own decision and won’t be forced out onto the streets at rifle point.

It seems to me that a lot of people just want an excuse to have some weird kind of social distancing party. Whether many of them are doing it out of love and respect for those who fought in WWII is open to dispute. Not a time for jingoistic nationalism imo. But hey, I’m just a misery.

annecan surely that’s what November 11th is for I totally agree with remembering the sacrifices made and thanking all those young men and women who fought for right, but to celebrate winning is not nice in my own opinion how would you see it if it was the other way round it feels so wrong to me
elothan I so agree with your thoughts

How I see it these are two totally different days November is about remembering and thanking, this Victory day feels so wrong and is about gloating How much better if we could join with other countries to have a celebration to praise the peace we have had between us for the last 75 years Now that I would love to join in

Mum aged 101 died this year, and what always struck me when she talked of the war years and VE Day was that there was never anything jingoistic in her language but a determination that it should never happen again.

That for me is the best message for today.

PEACE

callistermon
Perhaps those who dislike the idea of us remembering and expressing gratitude to all those men and women who liberated us would have preferred a different outcome
Can’t you see it’s the very opposite of that it’s BECAUSE I think we should be reflecting remembering and praying for peace that I think we should be concentrating on what we have achieved SINCE our brave men and woman fought so valiantly not crowing over winning and for those that say it’s a time for quiet reflection tell that to the flag waving street party people the very quickest way to start more ill feeling in my opinion

If your friends father had done something they were very ashamed of would you want to throw it in their face, of course not you d want to encourage them to do everything not to repeat it

VE Day in 1945 was very very understandable VE Day in 2020 is completely out of my realm of understanding ...why ?

Now if we had a Peace in Europe day to reflect where we ALL went wrong and to remember our poor relatives and friends who suffered 6 years of torture I would welcome that

Local radio has this morning been interviewing various people who served, some describing horrendous injuries. Each one was asked whether we should be celebrating today - they all said yes.

I will be observing the 2 minute silence at 11.00 and then, this afternoon, will be joining in the celebrations

Just heard on the radio that the German government are declaring today a Bank Holiday (initially just in Berlin) to CELEBRATE the end of the Nazi rule

Oldwoman70

Yes as I mentioned previously, it was a time of great relief and celebration for so many ordinary German people too, as we know from stories told us by our German friends, two in particular who married British soldiers.
One German prisoner of war worked on my aunt's farm and became a family friend.
They hated the Nazis too.

Commemorating the end of the war in Europe does not mean celebrating war, not in any way. It also doesn't mean that VJ Day is ignored. I remember the 50th anniversary of VJ Day, the father of a friend came back to the town to lead the remnants of his troops in the commemoration. Like everyone else who survived that war and imprisonment, working on the Burma railway, he remained psychologically affected by it. To dismiss his suffering and the suffering of so many by use of words like jingoistic seems cold to me.
I've never been a street party kind of person so that won't change today. We have a few houses and the village shop with bunting and union flags but no feeling of 'celebrating war'.