大象传媒

V.E. Day

I remember V.E. day. It was a fine warm evening when we went 鈥渙n the town鈥� to celebrate. It was not at all riotous. At least not early in the evening in Leicester town centre.

My husband had been in the Far East for over a year already 鈥� we had only been married for 3 months when his 鈥渕arching orders鈥� came. His army friend Stuart was still stationed in Leicester and he very unselfishly called round and took me, my sister, and my mother into town. He would rather have been with his wife, I know, but she lived some distance away and I guess good friends were the next best thing. Stuart and his wife when she visited had always been made welcome in my parents鈥� house, which was probably why my mother had been included. I just can鈥檛 remember where my father was 鈥� probably still tending his vegetable garden, knowing that the food situation, in spite of Victory in Europe, would get worse before it got better.

All the pubs everywhere, were open all day that day, but our little group didn鈥檛 encounter any loutish behaviour, probably because there was not an endless supply of alcohol. There was much singing and laughter and camaraderie. Stuart found a pub that still had something to sell - he had a pint, and we three ladies had a Babycham. Big treat! My mother, a cautious and abstemious person, took the bottle (no glasses you notice.) from her mouth and said, 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know it made you feel that good! Would there be another one?鈥� I don鈥檛 think she noticed that her two daughters took their alcohol in their stride!

I remember walking the 4 miles home, (I don鈥檛 think the trams could get through the crowded streets) and blessing Stuart for escorting us.

It wasn鈥檛 all euphoria though. My parents had married during World War I and knew that a declaration of peace in Europe, didn鈥檛 mean peace, literally. There would still be hundreds of problems to be solved 鈥� rationing, housing, food production, farming, manufacturing, renewing of old relationships, long awaited marriages, a baby boom, world travelled men not happy to settle to small 鈥� town life again and a thousand other things.

Stuart couldn鈥檛 wait to be demobbed to start a life with is wife and a new job. My sister wanted her fianc茅e back from Germany so that they could marry. I knew the war in the Far East was nowhere near over and when would I see my husband again. (It was actually April 1947 before he arrived back) and my parents I think, prayed that all the conflict had done some good, and that things would be better in the aftermath of World War II than they were after World War I.

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