"Pan gyrhaeddon ni Whitehall fe ymunon ni â'r dorf, a thrwy lwc pur... pasiodd Winston heibio i ni, yn eistedd ar do ei gar, yn chwifio ei het ac yn pwffian ar ei sigâr."
Roedd gan fy mam ddiweddar, Ruth Heppel (1926 – 2023), frawd hŷn o'r enw Keith Matthews a oedd gyda'i wraig yn byw yn India yn ystod yr Ail Ryfel Byd.
Cadwodd Keith yr holl lythyrau a ysgrifennodd ei deulu ato yn ystod y rhyfel, ac ar ôl ei farwolaeth, trosglwyddodd ei ferch y llythyrau i mi. Roedd y llythyrau gan fy mam o'i harddegau cynnar hyd at ddiwedd ei harddegau yn ddifyr ac yn ddatgelol am fywyd yn Llundain yn ystod y Blitz, lle bomiwyd ei thŷ fwy nag unwaith.
Ar 8fed a 9fed Mai 1945, cymerodd Ruth, a oedd yn 19 oed ac yn fyfyrwraig celf erbyn hynny, ran yn y dathliadau yn Sgwâr Trafalgar a Whitehall ac ysgrifennodd ddisgrifiad rhyfeddol o fywiog a manwl i'w brawd Keith a'i wraig. Yn fuan wedyn, peintiodd lun pen a dyfrlliw gogoneddus (wedi'i uwchlwytho yma) yn dal y cynnwrf llawen.
Trawsgrifiad:
10.5.45
My darling Keith & Jane,
VE-day has come at last and thank God for it. I thought you might like to hear our reactions & actions over here so I am writing now while it is all still fresh.
The news - as I expect you know - came through early on Monday evening, and evidently they had terrific celebrations in town there & then, although I wasn't up myself. We celebrated at home by lighting sparklers in the garden. Fire-works that people had been saving since 1939 went off intermittently all night long & bonfires were lit everywhere. On Tuesday I had to go to supper with Auntie so I went up to town earlier & met Margaret Wetherbee - a girl from the art school - & her sister. We walked all down Regent Street to Whitehall in the middle of the road. I with you could have seen it all. Crowds of people with anything red, white & blue under the sun - streamers, ribbons, button-holes, flags, rattles galore & hats - such hats!! Everybody singing and sitting all over the place, on the curb, on the roofs, on parapets with feet dangling, in the middle of the road - anywhere. The ground was strewn with torn-up telephone directories - an American custom. Churchill was supposed to be speaking from the balcony of the M of Health building at 5. We got there at a quarter two and wormed into the crowd. The sun was beating down on the crowd & it really was stifling. The crowd was packed like sardines, and half the time one's feet were anywhere but on the ground. There was a continual stream of St John's Ambulance men carrying out people who had passed out. At 5.30, Ch, still hadn't come so we squeezed out & left. He came at 5.45 I believe. Everyone was shouting we want Winnie but they hadn't really got worked up. I had to go to Aunt's then so I left. A friend went up that evening & said that there were Americans running round stark naked & bon-fires everywhere. Needless to say, owing to the transport half the crowd had to sleep in the parks all night. Luckily we had marvellous weather.
I went up with Brook last night again and we went to Buck Palace. We had a very good position & the crowd wasn't a bit squashed this time. We had to wait 1 1/2 hours before they came, meanwhile there were cries of "we want the King", "We want George", "Where's George", "We want Lizzie", "Come out come out wherever you are" etc etc. As soon as it got really well organized the band started playing & drowned the shouts, but as soon as they had finished the crowd started going off again. Hand-bells were being rung all round & rattles by the dozen. Brook had brought a whistle which he kept deafening the crowd with. People were perched everywhere - all over the Victoria memorial, on the lions & statues all round. The latter needless to say had beards & slogans & things all over them. However they came at last plus the Princesses & they all waved & smiled while the mass went mad with joy.
After they had gone we walked back via St Jame's Park to Whitehall. Several processions of nothing at all started up & marched arms in arm all down the road. When we arrived at Whitehall we joined the crowd, and just by pure luck, even though we were among the last to arrive, Winston passed just by us, sitting on the roof of his car, waving his hat and puffing at his cigar. After that we waited at the M of Health building for 2 hours for him to come out again. The populace had really got worked up by this time & we sang anything and everything from Roll-out the barrel to Land of Hope & Glory. We were regailed part of the time by an air-man who had climbed up one of the lamp-standards and was having a wonderful time with a bottle of milk. A bearded sailor climbed up one at the other side of the road & was doing the maddest things such as hanging on with his legs & waving his arms about shouting ribald remarks to the airman. The airman was joined on his lamp-post by another one who started fighting, about 15 feet above the ground, over the milk bottle, duiring which time its contents annointed the heads of the crowd freely below.
Finally they dropped it and a policeman made his presence felt so they had to come down. The cries this time we were "We want Winnie", "W.I.N.S.T.O.N.C.H.U.R.C.H.I.L.L. - Winston Churchill", and "Oh why are we waiting" to the tune of "O come all ye faithfull". At 10.15 when it was getting really dark, the floodlights were lit, and all the flags shone like billyo & were reflected in the windows. Winny came out at last at 10.45. He was received with the usual cheers etc and made quite a long speech about "good old London".... wonderful cockneys.... rotten Germans etc. He said London had remained firm as a hippopatamus, a rhinocorus, and ended up by repeating the first verse of "Rule Britannia" & conducting us in the chorus. Finally he went in, so Brook and I walked down to Trafalgar Square to see the floodlighting. It was lit like daylight and really looked tremendous. There were red, white & blue lights as well which were all reflected in the water.
After that we tried to go home but it was easier said than down, for we found that Trafalgar Square station was closed - so was Piccadilly - so was Leicester Square. We really thought we would have to walk home! However we beetled off to Westminster & caught the last train!
People really had got worked up by this time although nobody was tight owing to the fact that there were no drinks anywhere. Bonfires were lit every other street - don't ask what of it might be a dangerous question! and excited people did ring-a-roses round it. There were necking couples everywhere - everywhere, one almost fell over them, and the place seemed full of black troops. We got home finally at 1.30 in the morning.
That is just about the end of my recital. I do hope it hasn't bored you.
Tagiwyd:Diwrnod VE
Cyfrannwyd gan:griselda heppel
Yn ôl i'r rhestr
