Diane Thought that you could fix the problem- thanks a lot and I am sure that Susan will also give you her thanks- I am fine but still can't travel too far which is a nuisance as I miss my annual visit to Europe etc but thankfully still drive… cheers
We thoroughly enjoyed watching the VE day concert and parade on tv. I recorded the concert so my daughters could watch it too. Ron - my husband and I thought your interview was very well done. Tom - great photos, very smart!
Finally received a copy of the Italian TV interview I made. As with all the interviews I have ever done the filming took over an hour but was cut down almost to a vanishing point, in this case 2 minutes 20 seconds I made a few screen dumps and placed them in the Photo Gallery here: http://ww2talk.com/forums/gallery/album/855-rons-italian-tv-interview/ Ron
The link below is to a YouTube video about the VE50 Celebrations in the town of Bodmin in Cornwall. It starts with archive photos of 1945 before moving on to the commemorations fifty years later. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN_B-btSza8
Giving this thread a bump with a contribution from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada: Bob Mason was a soldier in A Company, a rifle company. Capt. Sherman Day was the commanding officer and was killed by a sniper on May 2, 1945. He had been particularly happy that day because the end of the war was so close. Poem by Pte Robert G. Mason, Signals Platoon, about VE-Day VE May 8, 1945 Just north of Wiefelstede, Germany. Capt Day got killed just before. London -- "You should have been there that night" he said "For, oh, what a wonderful time we had! "The bells were ringing, the sky was red "But you weren't there you say ... too bad!! "We sang in the street and we danced in the street "And many a happy girl I kissed "The crowd roared out with a joy complete "And ... of what a wonderful night you missed!!" Germany -- we crawled back out of the muddy ditch And ever the rain came drizzling down We suffered from every sodden stitch As we moved back into the German town. And as I looked in the eyes of men Staring out from their heart of boy I saw some meaning in life again ... A greater look ... but it wasn't joy! I saw in the eyes of those men I knew A "greater" look that in life will last Not only in dreams of a day that's through But in tears that tell of an awful past! ... No, ... I wasn't there when the lights came on! "I missed it all! ... but I can't forget That maybe if someone hadn't gone "To the switch, there might have been darkness yet! (I forget the fellow's name who told me about being in Piccadilly Circus, London, when the lights came on! ... But this is the way it was where we were!)
Although you & CWGC say the 2nd, Casualty Details , their history (based on the war diary) says this. (the typed roll of honour in the history says 5/02/45 .) ''A'' Company was now ordered to pass through and seize a main crossroad about 500 yards farther on; this point taken , the Battalion could close around it and wait the arrival of the Lincoln's from the east. About 0200 hours on the 3rd May, while leading his company forward in accordance with orders , Capt S.F. day was shot and instantly killed by a German sniper . It was tragically ironic that after leading this company from Friesoythe on through some of the most vicious and close-in fighting the Regiment had seen , he should fall two days before the war's end. His brother officers were silent and sad when they heard the unwelcome news.
1945: Rejoicing at end of war in Europe The Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, has officially announced the end of the war with Germany. In a message broadcast to the nation from the Cabinet room at Number 10, he said the ceasefire had been signed at 0241 yesterday at the American advance headquarters in Rheims BBC ON THIS DAY | 8 | 1945: Rejoicing at end of war in Europe
CL1 Sorry but I cannot reply to this today as it is a holiday here in France and nobody works, maybe tomorrow TD PS dont tell anyone I wrote this post
My Mum (Private Patricia Webb) was working at the War Office in Whitehall and when she left work on the morning of the 8th and walking back to her billet, she remembered telling all and sundry that Churchill was going on the radio at 4pm in the afternoon to announce the "end of the war"...that was about all she told me about her 3 1/2 years working for Southern Command and at the WO (Official Secrets' Act and all that - only kidding!!)...my Dad's (CQMS Edmund O'Sullivan) war had "finished" 13 days earlier when he reached the banks of the River Po ....on the 8th, he was still resting in the Udine area, ready to go onto Austria on 10th May 1945. A glass will be duly raised this evening in thanks to all the men and women serving both home and abroad and not forgetting their families waiting anxiously for news of the safe return of their sons and daughters, fathers and mothers.
Diary entry for 8th May 1945 Filling up with petrol while Hewie has a day in Venice. Packed most of the tanks. Dinner was just for Bill and I. Boys came back from leave 'dry'. There we were, in this field in the middle of nowhere, when someone on another tank called out, 'They're going mad back home, get the BBC on your set or you'll miss all the fun.' I tuned in my 19 set to the Home Forces station and for the benefit of those outside the tank, hung all the earphones over the side of the hull. The crackle of the headphones soon drew a small crowd around the tank and we all listened in amazement to an unknown announcer describing the scene in Trafalgar Square. I remember quite clearly that my emotions at the time were mixed. On the one hand it was good to feel that perhaps some of my loved ones back home were taking part in the scenes that were now taking place. On the other hand I, and in hindsight, I'm sure most of my comrades, felt somehow cheated that we, who had 'risked life and limb' and had been away from home for so many years, were not there in England to share in the triumph. There is a footnote to the above. In May 1995 one of my local papers asked their readers to send in stories relating to 'Where were you on VE Day?' I sent in my small story and as a result of this being published I was contacted by London News Network who were doing a run up to the VE Day Commemoration programs. I, with a few other veterans, was invited down to the Imperial War Museum, stood in front of a Sherman Tank and interviewed on what it felt like to be listening to the crowds in Trafalgar Square whilst I was still so far from home. I still have a video of the program that was shown during the ITV news and a photo that I took of myself as it was shown on the screen.
A great shame that it's not a regular public holiday too in the UK... Victory in Europe Day 2018 and 2019 - PublicHolidays.fr Has a summary: "It is the day that commemorates the end of World War II, specifically in Europe. World War II lasted from 1 September, 1939, to 8 May, 1945. This war engaged over 100-million people serving in the military. Casualties of the war rose to an estimate of 70-million people, with approximately 6-million perishing in Adolf Hitler’s holocaust – where Hitler attempted to purify the German race by destroying the Jewish population in gas chambers. On 8 May, 1945, just weeks after Hitler committed suicide, Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allied forces. Victory in Europe Day is celebrated all over Europe, and in other places around the world, and is called VE Day in some places. In France, it is a day of celebration and remembrance with church services, ceremonies and parades. French flags fly from the tops of poles everywhere and the air force thunders overhead in dramatic flyovers. Wreaths are laid during the ceremonies at monument aux morts in each village, town and city. Being a national holiday, schools, post offices, banks, businesses, shops and many restaurants are closed. The streets are full of people attending parades and the red, white and blue of the French flag is everywhere. Later in the day the French do what they do best… wine and food. In Reims, Champagne, the city where Germany signed its surrender, the local meals focus on ham and game, washed down, of course, with champagne. Chaource is a soft white cheese produced in the area and a specialty on the tables of the French late in the day. And a popular sweet finish is the Biscuit Rose de Reims, a pink biscuit that is crunchy and is dipped in champagne."
Tuesday 8 May 1945 was Victory in Europe (VE) Day, and it marked the formal conclusion of Hitler's war. With it came the end of six years of misery, suffering, courage and endurance across the world. BBC - History - VE Day (pictures, video, facts & news)
As Maurice Chevalier famously once sang in the film "Gigi", " I remember it well" BBC - WW2 People's War - The War Ends in Italy, 2nd May 1945 Ron
The problem I find today is that many just consider now another day off, this week today is a holiday then also Thursday the 10th is a holiday for 'Ascension' so really theres no point in working at all this week. When I first lived here days like today were reverred and there was absolute silence except and for church bells and the odd car every shop etc was closed , but today lawns are being cut and edges strimmed, at least the shops stay closed but I guess thats progress TD
Amsterdam May 7th, 1945 Lt.-Col. H.P. Bell-Irving, the commander of the Seaforth Highlanders, described the response to their entry into Amsterdam as "an ecstasy which I have never seen even approached in any crowd before. Before this, few of our men could have given a clear reason why they came." It changed on that day in Amsterdam, "Every life lost, every long day away from home, had been spent in a good and necessary endeavour." (Reginald H. Roy, The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada 1919-1965, Evergreen Press, 1969)