"Well the day we have been working for so long arrived at last."
My father, Lieutenant Arthur Wear REME, was stationed at Woolwich. He met his brother Jim, who was on leave from the Desert Rats, and they wrote about what they did in London on VE day.
After helping his landlady demolish her bomb shelter they met up in central London, saw the MPs coming out of Westminster Abbey, saw the Royal Family on the balcony at Buckingham Palace, witnessed the lights coming on at Buckingham Palace, heard and saw Churchill speak from the Ministry of Health building, walked through Kew Gardens to enjoy the peace, enjoyed festivities at a Sargent’s Mess and subsequently he participated in an Officers Mess Dinner.
My mother Ivy was in the Wrens and received the letter at her parent’s home in Northern Ireland. The letter had been inspected by the Censor. This was one of over 100 letters from my father carefully filed by my mother.
Transcript:
My dear Ivy,
Well the day we have been waiting for so long arrived at last. I hope that it found you all in good form and that you celebrated the occasion in a fitting manner. When the announcement was made on the wireless I was busy helping to dismantle Mrs [unclear]'s Morrison Shelter. I had been on edge all day on the Monday as various rumours came in to the office, and it was a great relief when the tension was relieved. I thought it was going to be a very poor celebration as when I went to the local for a drink I found it so full that I returned thirsty. However at about 10pm I was ringing to find whether Jim had arrived back from [unclear], when three of the Sgts from the REME Workshop appeared [unclear] and invited me to go down to a party at their Mess. I stayed until 2.30am but even though the party was still in full swing, but I had enjoyed it and did not want to spoil the rest of the holiday by overdoing it.
On VE day I met Jim up in town and we listened to Churchill's Speech in Parliament Square and afterwards went into Westminster Abbey to join in the House of Lords Service of Thanksgiving. We came out of the side entrance of the Abbey just as the MPs were coming out of St Margarets Chapel and had a good view of them all including Churchill who had a great reception from the crowd and was beaming with pleasure. We walked around seeing the sights and saw the Royal Family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace once in the early evening and later just after the Kings Speech. The crowds were very enthusiastic. On Wednesday I met Jim in Richmond and we had a quiet walk through Kew Gardens, and in the evening returned to town to see Evelyn Laye in "The Three Waltzes" at the Prince's Theatre. It was a most enjoyable show. We afterwards walked around to see the floodlighting of the various public buildings. We waited to see the lights go up on Buckingham Palace and were not disappointed it really was a wonderful sight - the Royal Family again appeared on the balcony. We had an unexpected twist as we were going up Whitehall en route for the station. Churchill came out complete with bowler hat and cigar and the V sign and made a most amusing speech from the balcony of the Ministry of Health. He finished up by leading the crowd in the singing of Rule Britannia - it really was a tonic and the crowd gave him a terrific cheer. Unfortunately this caused me to miss my last train to Kidbrooke, but I got a train to a station about 2 1/2 miles away. Both Jim and I agreed that on the whole we had celebrated VE in a right and proper manner. I sincerely hope that we shall soon be celebrating victory in the Far East. I hope there is a letter on its way to tell me how you fared in N.I. I listened to the programme from N.I. this evening about Ulster VE celebrations but it did not give very much detail. Tomorrow evening we are to round off the week with a staff dinner and dance at the Shakespeare Hotel, Woolwich. I am hoping it will be an enjoyable evening, but I should enjoy ir much more it you could be there. The time is now drawing near for the wedding, which as I told you last time has been postponed until 16th May. I am then starting my leave on the 18th and with Whit weekend gives me seventeen clear days. I have no idea yet what I shall we doing but I expect I shall we able to arrange something.
I must go out to phone Jim before it gets too late and at the same time take this to post.
I do hope your mother is making satisfactory progress, and will soon be quite fit again.
Hoping to hear from you soon
Yours, as ever
Tagged:VE Day
Contributed by:Jenny Pearce
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