Kenneth Stone’s VE Day menu "Menu: Collaborationist Soup" Sent from: Zeven, Germany Date of letter: 9 May 1945
Lenin Edwards to his wife Eileen "I have heard from Auntie Millie that my cousin George has died “for his country” though it will be interesting to note in future years exactly what he did die for. I have the red flag hanging in my office upstairs. No one has said a word against it since I made from a screen cover weeks ago." Sent from: Trincomalee, Ceylon Date of letter: 7 May 1945
Betty Skinner to her parents George and Frederika "Isn’t it wonderful now knowing that we have come to the end of those five gruesome years and we can almost begin to sit back. But I can’t imagine life ever feeling the same again as it did pre-war. Expect it will be the same as after the last, which you know more about than I do, and I can’t picture it as being too pleasant." Sent from: Near Monte Casino in Italy Date of letter: 6 May 1045
Sam Gelder to his fiancée Blanche Taylor "Well Darling this is one of the Days that we Both have Been waiting for Now we can look forward to that Big Day of ours to come Darling & Let's Hope its not to far off love." Sent from: Gibraltar Date of letter: 8 May 1945
WAAF Sergeant Hazel Yarborough to her mother "The next day the entire unit had organised sports, a football match and then we went to a bathing lake and boated and swam and felt as if the war was really over." Sent from: Genval, near Brussels, Belgium
A poem by Olive Sculthorpe on VE Day "The flag-decked streets the dense crowd throng, And now and then take up a song: / 'Rule Britannia,' some such strain ; / Then comes a pause-they cheer again !"
Edwin Stonestreet to his daughter Nanette "Having a day with naught to do / but celebrate – 'twas V.E. 2" Sent from: Holland Date of letter: 14 May 1945
John Scourse to his family "We missed all the VE day celebrations owing to the fact that we were at sea, but they have given us a very sincere welcome here and the general air of festivity gives us a good idea of what things were like at home." Date of letter: 29 May 1945
William Manson to his son Daniel Manson "I had no sooner left the house when word came over the wireless that the war in Europe was finished and that Tuesday was to be VE Day and Wednesday VE plus 1 day" Sent from: Glasgow Date of letter: 7 May 1945
Captain F H Willis to his daughter Diana "I'm writing this to you on one of the most important days of both your life and mine" Sent from: Belgium Date of letter: 8 May 1945
Gilbert Bradley to his parents Effie and Albert "I wish I were in England tonight I would particularly like to see London amid its rejoicing as when I was there the blackout etc were in full swing." Sent from: South East Asia Date of letter: 8 May 1945
Dora Collen to her son David "It was a lovely day yesterday and we sat quietly in the garden still unable to realise what had happened [...] Then Churchill spoke and we knew it was really true." Sent from: Lewisham, London Date of letter: 9 May 1945
Jean Crawley’s diary of VE Day "VE Day. No school. Hooray. Went up to London again. Saw Churchill at Whitehall on Ministry of Health Building. All the H.o.P. was floodlit. Didn't get in till 1.30am" Sent from: South London
Lt. Gordon Bamford to his wife Nancy "We must not lower ourselves to the level of those for whose actions we have had some loathing and contempt. We must bear ourselves as humane conquerors who are trying to set the world on a safer sounder base for the benefit of all peoples." Sent from: Belgium Date of letter: 8 May 1945
Joyce McFarlane – VE Day note "Drank cider. Wore rosette and blue & white & red spotted blouse, short sleeves, my mother had made for me. Loved it." Sent from: Bingley College near Bradford
Contemporary poems by Ian Martin from conversation with Mrs Margaret Martin, reflecting on her experiences of VE Day "The day went in a flash and we were all so happy / The streets looked so pretty with all our chains. / We ate sandwiches, homemade biscuits and / Eggless sponge cakes, as we had all saved up our rations / And our Dads and Uncles drank the beer that had saved too. / The older girls danced and hugged the returning soldiers"
Frank C Jones to his wife Rosa "Believe me Rosa it feels very strange to be in this country after passing through the others where we had a cheery smile and flowers thrown at us." Sent from: Germany Date of letter: 6 April 1945
Donald Chapman to his mother and sister "The news was of the surrender of course, and in case you don’t known I ain’t fighting anyone no more; – no more guns; mines, or the other things which have scared the daylights out of me." Sent from: Germany Date of letter: 4 May 1945
Leslie Sutton to Peggie (Margaret) Green "However heavy my heart may be it will always be lightened with the knowledge that there is always somebody waiting for me to come home" Sent from: India
George Scott Lamb to Hilda Lamb "May God bless you all in this Great hour of Victory to us all in Italy and Europe. P.S. You need to drink all your health with some John Haig" Sent from: Rome Date of letter: 7 May 1945
Mrs Vera Guest to her husband Sgt Douglas Guest "You can imagine me sitting at the bureau in the dining room, with Dash asleep beside me, Elizabeth asleep in her cot. I cannot go out to celebrate and don’t feel I want to without you, but at the same time I feel a little forlorn, and no doubt you can understand it." Sent from: Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk Date of letter: 8 May 1945
Rene Critchley to her husband Norman "VICTORY at last! Oh my darling what that word means to us." Sent from: North Staffordshire Date of letter: 8 May 1945
Albert John Westwood to Ilma Mary Collins "I do hope and trust that you enjoyed the celebrations darling [...] Anyway, enjoyed them enough for both you and me – I bet you did." Sent from: Germany
Elsie Skipper to her husband John "We listened together to the declaration of war, we should have been together for Victory. How I wish you could have been here to see the celebrations." Sent from: Balham, London Date of letter: 10 May 2045
Bill Furlong to Ivy Furlong "At last the day has come, and frankly no-one seems to know quite what to do about it. Last night there were terrific celebrations here, & we were busy with the old beam [searchlight] for a long time." Sent from: Vlissingen, Holland Date of letter: 8 May 1945
Edward Nixey to his friend George Vines "Mrs Avis and family gave a tea in the street for the children and afterwards we had a good old sing-song in the street in between the slight showers." Sent from: Bath
Doreen Baggett to Harry Sloan "We went to hear the Mayor at the town hall. It was teeming with rain but that didn't stop anybody" Sent from: Sunderland Date of letter: 9 May 1945
Janie Dennison to her nephew Derek Thornton "They made a dummy Hitler and Mr Duckles the black and white artist from Blakeboroughs drew his face and they did burn him" Sent from: Brighouse, West Yorkshire Date of letter: 9 May 1945
Alexander Henderson to Doris, Ian and David Henderson "Towards the end of the evening when the free beer had been drunk, the crowd got a bit riotous and pulled the tents down, overturned the tables and broke all the glasses and bottles" Sent from: Gibraltar Date of letter: 13 May 1945
Captain James D Shearer to his father James G Shearer "Overhead, fireworks were bursting in red, green and white. It was like a setting from some fantastic play, it was so dramatic" Sent from: Holland
English (UK)English (UK)
