OUR VE DAY
FREE PULLOUT INSIDE
75 years on... readers share their incredible memories
MARION PARRY, 78, of Aberdare, Wales
Marion lived with her parents, Ethel and Ernest. Her dad joined up as a gunnery soldier with a Royal Artillery antiaircraft regiment defending naval bases in Scotland, near the Orkney Islands.
This family photo was taken when he returned to Wales, in
June 1941, to meet baby Marion. Marion, far right, honours May 8, 1945 in verse...
VE DAY
A bonfire stands upon the hill for everyone to see,
The daily news reads, “Peace at last! We’ve won the victory.” Flags are flying, people singing, children start to shout. But I am only four years old, I don’t know what it’s all about. Soldiers in their khaki suits, relief spread on their faces. Shake hands, join arms with “GI Joes” of many different races.
“We’re going home at last!” shouts Bill. “New York, here I come!” “Oh! What will we do now?” moans Dai. “Who’ll give us chewing gum?”
My Mickey Mouse gas mask will finally be put away,
In the hope that it may never again see the light of day.
The air raid shelters will soon come down,
As peace returns to our small town.
The village band plays a Glenn Miller tune to set feet tapping with a swing.
And pit hooters sound throughout the hills, while church bells start to ring.
A radio plays Vera Lynn, as she begins to croon,
“There’ll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover,”
That ever-popular tune.
It’s time at last, the torch is lit and the bonfire starts to burn.
Crackling wood and soaring flames light up each face in turn.
A new tomorrow will soon dawn and war will fade away,
But we must never forget the price that we all had to pay
For freedom and the right to live in peace at last.
However many years go by, we remember the past.
Now, 75 years on, we’ll remember, and celebrate with tea.
There’ll be plenty to eat and plenty to drink, more than enough for you and me.
But we will still stop and wonder how we survived each day,
Of rationing and coupon books and queues along the way.
Yes, the time has long since passed but it seems no time ago,
That I still remember VE Day, When I was only four.”