VE DAY. Do you remember?

My mum was 15 when the war ended and her mum was a very capable woman . They lived in a cul de sac and gran got together with all the neighbours from the street and the surrounding houses .
They clubbed together the food coupons and borrowed tables and benches and had a street party as a celebration . Grandad got home from work to find their piano in the street and everyone singing and dancing 🕺

my parents got married around that date and my brother always used to say that it was peace in Europe but war in our family . my parents stayed together but it was far from a happy marriage.

I was only 14 months old and my Mother said I couldn’t possibly remember it but I do. I remember the long tables in the street outside our house and my cousin who lived opposite had a white dress with red white and blue buttons. And I can see a jelly shimmering on the table but can’t see what colour it is. My cousin found a photo of a lot of children including her sitting on chairs with adults in the background and my Mum holding me in the doorway of our house, all laughing at something. So we think there must have been some entertainment.
My Dad came back from the navy in 1946 and I remember being bought from my bed one night to see this strange man in our sitting room. I wanted nothing to do with him even though he had bought a dolls pram with him! All those poor men returning to children who didn’t know them.

I remember it quite well. I was at my grandmothers when the bells started to ring out. Everyone went out into the road looking at each other, the women were dabbing their eyes, can’t remember any men there. We seemed to hang around for a long time and I remember the word victory being repeated over and over but it didn’t make any sense to me as it didn’t know what it meant. I was born in 1941.

I don't remember it myself. I have seen photographs of my grandparents and great grandparents celebrating at a huge street party.

I feel it's important for all generations to remember what people went through to allow us to keep our freedom. It doesn't need to be an extravaganza, a few items in the news and in online news feeds, perhaps posters or digital posters at tube/railway stations. Maybe schools could do assemblies on it?

Hello there

Interesting post ... I wasn't born until 1965 to older parents 40 Mum ,Dad 48 who was a far East POW .Victory in Japan wasn't until September 1945 .My Dad died in 1976 when I was 11..I am "lucky "to have quite a few original documents as well as his Service records that I applied for through Gov.Uk
My Father was an alcoholic and an emotionally distant man,an uninterested Husband who My much older Sister hated !

Of course I will never understand fully what He went however My research with both ancestry and a Facebook group has been invaluable .😢

I must point out that my father had come home on leave 9 months before my sister was born, and went straight back to the front.

Like many other contributors I was around for VE day. Although I can't remember it I do have a photo of the party that day. The long table down the centre of the road loaded with FOOD, which had always been in short supply. I am sitting with all the other children from our road, and my mother is standing at the end of the tables holding my 6 month old baby sister. Next to her are her mother whose house we lived in during the war and a great uncle who had also moved in with us. My father was still in Germany.

I am just coming uo to my 90th birthday and remember we had a huge street party, with flags and bunting everywhere. The food was much more plain than one would see today, but we did have paste sandwiches, some cakes and jellies. I remember everyone was so happy and laughing.

I was just too young, I do remember wearing.my red Siren suit though

Isn't this being regarded as the last opportunity to have a celebration as unlikely there will be anyone left who will remember in a few years time especially service personnel.

I wasn’t born til 1958, but my mother, born in 1934 used to often speak of it.

I'm too young to remember VE day. I asked my Mum what we did on VE day. She said that we didn't celebrate VE day as my Dad was in the navy in the far east, so we only celebrated VJ day.

He was so traumatised by knowing and repatriating the soldiers who had been prisoners of the Japanese he would never have anything Japanese in the house for the rest of his life.

My grandson's partner took copies of all his war record, letters and photos to make a display in her school for the future generation to remember.

I was born on 1951, so I can't claim to remember V.E. day, nor do I remember the day actually being celebrated in Scotland in my childhood, except by the local Army Veterans of both World Wars marching through the town.

What has always been a part of my life is the celebrations for the liberation of Denmark. Every year the Danish state radio broadcast their original record of the BBC's annoncement of Montgomery's victory at Luneberger Heide on May 4th 1945 and the candles placed in window-sills - a custom that sprang into being, as soon as people, who like my mother's generation had experienced it placed at their windows after tearing down the hated black-out curtains.

The 5th of May is a public holiday in Denmark, and the night between the 4th and 5th of May is the only day of the year that you are allowed to leave your flag out overnight, as those who had a flag-pole and a lot of private householders did and do have one in Denmark, raised the Danish flag after they heard the news of the total capitulation of the Nazi forces and so great was the rejoicing that peopl forgot to pull down their flags at sundown.

I agree, a lot of young people have not observed these days, but since the war in Ukraine started many of our children and grandchildren's generation here have started doing so.

If VE celebrations only look to the past, then they may not mean much to the young, if they are seen as an opportunity to declare how important democracy and peace are - then they may well be meaningful.

My son’s mother-in-law is very a Royalist and a Patriot. Any important dates are always marked with a celebration. She’s having the neighbours over on VE Day. Though I’m not a neighbour she has kindly invited me.

I remember candle lanterns on sticks and we walked in a procession up to the top of a wooded hill. There was a bonfire and jacket potatoes. In my memory is no trace of the fact that it was VE day, but with hindsight it must have been - till then we had blackout curtains and no one would show a light at night.

Too young to remember, but one school friend’s Mum was named Victoria Joy for VJ Day so we looked it up. (In a book at the library!!!).
I don’t mind the celebrations, but it won’t go down well with anyone who is feeling under financial pressure because of this government’s actions.
Many of those who are more likely to remember would possibly rather have had the WFA than money spent on celebrations they are to old to get to, to young to remember or can’t watch on TV because they can’t afford the license fee.
Or maybe it’s the government’s way of reminding us about the need to increase the military spending.

You have some wonderful memories and it's good to read them. For our family, VJ was the thing, as Dad served with the Forgotten Fourteenth in Burma.
Yes, it is worth remembering and celebrating, and a much needed 'prompt', when you think of what is happening in the world just now.

Annodomini

If we don't have remembrances like this then the events will be forgotten even sooner. Be glad of them. And support them.
My sons (20's) are very interested and go to memorials - but my Father was a very young Royal Marine Commando on Omaha Beach on D-Day and has shared memories.

They also did school trips to both the WW1 and WW2 battlefields when they were (c) 13 and 15 years of age and their School covered these historical events in depth (Private School - I don't know if State schools share the same amount of interest, as certainly those attended by friends kids didn't. Basic NC and that was it).
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I don't remember it, I'd only just arrived, but a couple of weeks ago I picked up a local paper with some old V.E. street party photo's in it and there was my Mum and Dad, Dad wearing his Fedora and Mum with a bonnet, oh they looked wonderful.

VE day and VJ day are very important to ur family. I’m 57 and we always observe these days. The rest of the family is exactly the same. It is far from meaningless to us. I think if you bring your children up to understand what these days meant then they too will understand why these dates should never be forgotten.

I wasn't born till 1946 and my parents were both still in the forces so they didn't have many memories of it. I think from now on it will just recede and become another of the dates we learn at school.

I wasn't born until a few weeks later but I do remember seeing a photograph of me not long ago, in the local newspaper, I was held by a teenage neighbour whom I remember.
The article was about remembering VE Day celebrations many years on.

Obviously it was a VE Day celebration in 1946.

Thank you * blossom14*. Your memories really brought the celebration and the sacrifices so many people made to life for me.

What a lovely memory xx