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VE Day.

At long last the very day that everyone had hoped and waited for had now dawned,as it was officially announced that all hostilities against the‘Jerries’ was now at an end,and the Forces of the Nazi 3rd Reich had excepted complete unconditional surrender Hitler and a number of his supporting staff were dead, or were prisoners of the Allies,and the German Chancery in Berlin was in ruins.The cease fire on all fronts was to become effective right away,so this news we received with the greatest elation after nearly six years of stuggle against the enemy that had proved to be resilient,tough and determined in the European and Middle East theatres,in the Air,and on the high Seas. So now the war was finally over and the declaration of peace was on May the 8th 1945,giving all of us sevicemen and women a chance to celebrate,and
thankfully reflect on the fact that we had suvived during the darkest days that the citizens of our country have ever had to endure.

The country went wild with drinking,dancing and street parties that made Jubilee day look pale by comparison and now, the whole idea was to celebrate,forget any troubles and get ‘P- - - - D UP’. The partying continued all night long provided you could stand up after consuming so much ale or spirits. I have to admit like so many others the next day was sheer agony as the sickness and the aches and pains told its own story. Yet it was all worth while,as it was just a case of temporally suffering when we had just survived nearly six years of Blood,Toil,Sweat and Tears,so who cared. When we finally surfaced for a little fresh air ‘Winnie’ had to remind us all, that the war was not yet over and a lot of serious fighting had yet to take place in the Far East, against the brutal
Japanese, before the final cease fire which would allow us to return to our normal life style and families that we so urgently wanted.
He said we had earned our victory in Europe and we should take a few days in which to enjoy this victory, but we must still bear in mind the final objective was to rid the world of these brutal oppressors and restore peace once and for all. So now we had short time in which to rejoice, after all that we had suffered, and then back to the real job of finishing off the bloody Japs when the entire forces of the Allied nations could yeild one master stroke in the final blow to defeat the enemy.
Just memories by Freddy Dyke.

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