VE Day

9th May 2025

Since last week’s message I’ve been doing some thinking. This has been prompted by the events, throughout the week, marking VE day. Last week I wrote about celebrating and how that made me feel a little uncomfortable – I got that wrong! Really what we should be considering, and I think it’s been the mark of the events of the last five days or so, culminating in the significant international events of yesterday, is another C word – not to Celebrate but to Commemorate.

It has been moving to watch the survivors and veterans from that period of history and listen to their testimony. Rightly there has not been a singular focus on those who had to fight but those but, more broadly, on the suffering that many faced in this country and, across the globe; especially in Europe, and in Eastern Europe in particular.

On 8 May 1945, people in Britain and across the world celebrated Victory in Europe, now known as VE Day. This marked the unconditional surrender of Germany and meant an end to nearly six years of a war. After years of wartime restrictions and dangers – from food and clothes rationing to blackouts and bombing raids – many were finally able to let loose and enjoy themselves. The day became a public holiday (a brief period of rejoicing – as Churchill put it), with parties on the streets across the nation, running late into the night (maybe that’s why the pubs were allowed to stay open later on Thursday). Villages, towns, and cities were decorated with flags and bunting.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressed a crowd of thousands from the balcony of the Ministry of Health in Whitehall. The future Queen, Princess Elizabeth, secretly joined in the festivities, while servicemen, servicewomen, and civilians from Britain, the USA and other Allied Nations celebrated together in a day of unity.

Those commemorations and the events of the past few days, across the globe, focus our minds on what Europe looks like today and remind us that peace in Europe now hangs by a particularly narrow thread. Events leading up to the second world war, the horrors of the second world war and the impact on many many innocent people, for much of my life were very much consigned to history. Sadly these days, those events, to some degree point us to the care we need to take in managing our present day geopolitics.

Many of the survivors of the second world war do not discuss celebrating defeat but more likely commemorating suffering and loss. And if that’s what we are doing then the events of the past week have been particularly moving and important.

I recognise that we may not all feel that same way about the events of the last week but that’s ok. That’s what living in a democracy gives you. Let’s not take that for granted. That’s worth a moment’s reflection, at least.

‘Never, never, never give up’.

‘The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see’.

 Winston Churchill