VE Day Celebrations

Benid0rmbelle

Cossy

Yes, DH and I are watching, it’s very humbling and I truly hope it’ll strike those who veer towards the far right!

Amazing woman talking at the moment who is 101! Very wise words!

And far left

But you do understand that it was the far right in Europe that caused so much carnage?

I’d be interested in an example of the far left (not that I’m a supporter - I just prefer accuracy) causing so much devastation.

Stalin's purges in Communist Russia.

Chairman's Mao's purges in Communist China.

That hardly constitutes the same as total war does it?

BlueBelle

Allira thanks for your post which was unnecessary as I had already said I didn’t watch

My dad fought at one point with the ghurkas who he had so much time and respect for, my West Indian father in law fought with us , one grandad was in Africa and Italy the other was 16 and riding a motorbike to the front line as a messenger boy
None are short of courage

However I personally think we should be linking with other countries on both sides for a celebration of PEACE
That would be a huge move in the right direction and that I would love to watch

VE day and VJ day ARE a celebration of peace - the peace that came after years of war and made everyone joyful.

No-one hates war more than those who have been through it, whether they are at the front, losing comrades and expecting at any minute to lose their own lives, or defending their country against invaders - and losing family and friends while doing so - or at home waiting for news of sons, husbands, fathers and friends who are in the thick of it. That is why they remember the day it all stopped, and hope that their memories will be heeded and not repeated.

VE day and VJ day ARE a celebration of peace - the peace that came after years of war and made everyone joyful.

Absolutely, Elegran.

The purges had the same effect on the people who were murdered, and the devastation they spread on the countries where they were enacted.

I saw the comment about those who veer towards the far right right and found it immensely patronising, as is the follow-up ...'but you do understand....?'
Yes thank you I understand perfectly, and if I have a label I am right -wing, but do not ally myself with Nazis and fascists any more than others who regard themselves as being on the right of politics.
Tired of Starmer (Starmski as I heard him called yesterday), Emily Thornberry, Rayner et al repeating as regularly as possible, far right, hard right extreme right etc. Say it often enough and people will unconsciously accept it. They think.

Elegran

BlueBelle

Allira thanks for your post which was unnecessary as I had already said I didn’t watch

My dad fought at one point with the ghurkas who he had so much time and respect for, my West Indian father in law fought with us , one grandad was in Africa and Italy the other was 16 and riding a motorbike to the front line as a messenger boy
None are short of courage

However I personally think we should be linking with other countries on both sides for a celebration of PEACE
That would be a huge move in the right direction and that I would love to watch

VE day and VJ day ARE a celebration of peace - the peace that came after years of war and made everyone joyful.

No-one hates war more than those who have been through it, whether they are at the front, losing comrades and expecting at any minute to lose their own lives, or defending their country against invaders - and losing family and friends while doing so - or at home waiting for news of sons, husbands, fathers and friends who are in the thick of it. That is why they remember the day it all stopped, and hope that their memories will be heeded and not repeated.

Perhaps those who condemn these commemorations are not familiar with the Exhortation remembering the fallen, why they fought and the fervent prayers for peace.

Of course, they fought for the freedom for people to be able to express such views which would not have been possible without their sacrifices.

Whitewavemark2

That hardly constitutes the same as total war does it?

I did not say it was the same as total war. I was talking about carnage and devastation, deaths on an industrial scale, not being unique actions of right wing regimes.

Yes, my father (RN) didn’t come home until the war with Japan was over. He was involved in the last action against the Japanese at IIRC Singapore, but never really spoke about his experiences. I know however that his ship took some of the skeletal prisoners out of Changi jail.
Like a pp, it was many years before anything Japanese was allowed in our house.

He also spent 2 years in the Battle of the Atlantic, so was very lucky to survive.
He served for a while on the same ship as Nicholas Montserrat (The Cruel Sea) and said he was ‘a shit’!!
But he would never watch that film. He was a very cheerful, jolly type, though. ❤️

I think the concert has been really good.

I loved the concert too. I'm in tears! I'm thinking of all my Aunts and Uncles now long gone, one who took part in D Day, and my Grandpa, long gone, who was at El Alamein. I have to thank them all for so much. xx

I enjoyed the concert too.....hit just the right note.

I was at the silence at noon outside our local town hall and was amazed how many people walked past asking what was going on!

The concert was good, despite some of the poor music and performers in the middle.
I enjoyed how old reels and photos were blended into the show. Including letters from veterans was so moving too. My favourites were the 3 soap ladies in green, and the singer at the end who kept Vera Lynn's, "We'll meet again" very simple and full of meaning.

DH and I thoroughly enjoyed the concert, we had a cheeky mid week glass of wine to toast the courageous people of eighty years ago 🥂

I admit to having a tear or three.

Top Loader - Dancing in the moonlight is one of my favourite songs, in fact the AC will probably play it at my funeral.

I spent the afternoon/evening sorting out all the stuff I have inherited over the years that relates to the second world war.

I didn’t realise that I had so much. From photos - of course- to newspaper, letters, military stuff, ration books, mementoes absolutely masses of it.

It needs all sorting and annotating, with the possibility (probably remote) that the GC etc will value it as part of their family history.

I’ve decided to cover the period 1900-1945, as I also have stuff from the First World War.

That should keep me going😊

I enjoyed the concert but I wish they had Timothy Spall again as on Monday to read the Churchill part. The man last night didn't sound right.

Zoe Ball looked lovely in her red dress.

We watched most of the concert and I was humbled too, at the thought that Britain, little despised Britain, Won that terrible war against all odds (albeit with a little help from our friends towards the end.

And then I wondered how the Britain of 1945 came to this in 2025.
We’re proud of our war heroes, would they be proud of us?

DH and I thoroughly enjoyed the concert, we had a cheeky mid week glass of wine to toast the courageous people of eighty years ago

This made me smile, GrannyGravy
DD and I were chatting on messenger during the concert and I said I was feeling so emotional I was tempted to have my Friday night G&T a day early.

Her reply was, ‘Go on Mum. It’s what they would have wanted.’ 😂😂

winterwhite why wouldn’t they be proud of 2025 UK?

The entire world has changed significantly over the last 80 years, and from what I have seen and heard on my travels the UK is still a great country and place to live.

My stepfather was one of the emaciated prisoners that were released from Changi Jail, captured at the fall of Singapore. He opted to return home by ship as it took longer and he wanted to put on a bit of weight before seeing his parents, so as not to alarm them too much. His father who met him at the dockside was a typical Edwardian, and not given to displays of emotion, apparently, in tears, hugged, and for the first time since childhood, kissed his son. That generation were so emotionally strange! My stepfather always felt that the war, and those in the Far East, had been forgotten when they came home. Everyone had quickly moved on, understandably, and seemed to disregard those returning from the hell that had been theirs for over three years.

www.thenma.org.uk/what's-on/exhibitions/1945

There's a lot going on at the National Memorial Arboretum between now and November.

I visited the Far East memorial area and building recently, it's a time I knew very little about.
Well worth going.

I put some red white and blue bunting at the front of the house on Sunday and it was stolen yesterday 😲 it was thin plastic and only cost £3 so I can’t understand why anyone wanted it.Unless they didn’t want it but tore it down to show they don’t like this country possibly.Anyway, it lasted until VE Day at least.

Oh dear Oreo, that was a pretty unpleasant thing for someone to do, but sadly these days, not that unsurprising.

Jaberwok

My stepfather was one of the emaciated prisoners that were released from Changi Jail, captured at the fall of Singapore. He opted to return home by ship as it took longer and he wanted to put on a bit of weight before seeing his parents, so as not to alarm them too much. His father who met him at the dockside was a typical Edwardian, and not given to displays of emotion, apparently, in tears, hugged, and for the first time since childhood, kissed his son. That generation were so emotionally strange! My stepfather always felt that the war, and those in the Far East, had been forgotten when they came home. Everyone had quickly moved on, understandably, and seemed to disregard those returning from the hell that had been theirs for over three years.

People always think the war ended on May 8th, but there were still hundreds of thousands of men fighting in the Far East and thousands more would die before Japan finally surrendered on August 15th. Most people seem to forget that we weten't just fighting Germany, but Japan, whose war crimes were just as bad and whose treatment of POWs was terrible.
I had a relative who died some years before I was born in 1967, who was captured by the Japanese in Singapore in 1942 and suffered 3 years of hell as a POW. Apparently he was in a terrible condition like the men you've mentioned and never really recovered from his illnesses and maltreatment and died in his 40s. Obviously I have no issue with the modern Japanese, but many of the wartime ones were total scum.