Remembering the 75th anniversary of war’s end
Writer’s parents wrote many letters during Second World War
May 8 marks the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, or V-E Day, the end of the Second World War, after close to six years of conflict. We’ve been battling the COVID-19 pandemic for nearly two months now, which seems like a long time, but is not really that long in the perspective of history. It helps to remember that Canadians have lived through tough times before as we endure this difficult period.
While they were apart during the war, my parents wrote over 600 letters to each other. Here are some excerpts from their letters around V-E Day.
“My Sweetheart Helen, This is the day we’ve all been waiting for ... It’s pretty hard to realize now that the war is over, when you consider that so many years of your life have been moulded around wartime conditions and now all that is at an end ... Later we went down to the beach where there was a big bonfire going on the sand with hundreds of people around it singing old songs ...”
Helen wrote:
“Dearest Harry, What a day honey! I’m still going around in a daze really. I jumped out of my bed when I overheard the news [of V-E Day] on the radio in the next room. After learning it was true, I walked back and forth to compose myself, or try to. It just happened I had the day off as I worked yesterday instead, wasn’t that nice ... It all made me feel the bridge wasn’t so far between us ... Even the air is different, no kidding ... We just looked out the window and saw the fireworks going off.
... The fact that it’s over has flashed through my mind countless times since Monday. Last night when I bought a paper as usual and read it coming up the walk, my heart seemed lighter and I imagined everyone else was the same.”
The Sunday after V-E Day, my father, who was a musician in the RCAF band, described the
“Thanksgiving for Victory” parade he took part in, attended by over 6,000 members of the armed forces and other organizations, through Bournemouth, England, where they were stationed. In his letter about it he wrote,
“The people here weren’t slow in putting out flags in front of their shops even though they are awfully dear [expensive] and naturally everybody is excited ... Tomorrow afternoon we’re leading a parade of the services in the drum head service here in Meyrick Park, Bournemouth. I think it’s a Thanksgiving Day all over the world, outside of Germany.”
The parade was hailed as ‘One of the greatest, if not the greatest, parades ever seen in the town.’ Afterwards, over 20,000 people came to the outdoor drum head service, a church service attended by members of a military unit while they were in the field. During the service, the minister said that those in the war fought for “a better world for all people,” and included a period of silence to remember “all who have laid down their lives that we might be free.” And there was a prayer “for all who still fight in the East, and for all who bear the wounds and sorrows of war” (as the war in the Pacific still raged.) There were prayers for guidance “for the Allied Nations in their dealings with the beaten enemy, in the reordering of the life of Europe, and in the endeavour to establish peace.”
My book, “Love in the Air: Second World War Letters” is available in the Peterborough Public Library, at friesenpress.com and on Amazon. For more information, please visit joanneculley.com.
“Last night when I bought a paper as usual and read it coming up the walk, my heart seemed lighter and I imagined everyone else was the same.”
HARRY CULLEY LETTER, 1945