V E Day

[Chelsea14Ian]

Today of course is VE day.Marking seventy five years since the end of the war in Europe.Any stories you have of your familys during that dark time?any light hearted ones,near misses.

For us it would have big calibrated in a big way.Due to  this virus ,it wont be so.We can however still mark this in a different low key way.

My parents had not met.My mum worked in the Woolwich  Arsenal ,she together with my grandparents, uncle and Aunts in Eltham London.The house I grow up until I was sixteen.One day she dropped a tray of detonators. Think she frightened the life out of every one.My Father was a miner in County Durham. .He wanted to join the RAF,but was told to serve in the mines.He joined the RAF after the war,and sadly died in service of a massive heart attack when I was 28 months old. Mums brothers and sisters were to young.My eldest brother served in the army in India. I know very little about his service history. Mum said  there was a number of near misses. Think the family were very lucky.living close to central London and the docks and Woolwich Arsenal. They all ,thank goodness came out of it alive.

Today I'm sure we as a nation will pay respects to those that gave there life,those that suffered.

A day of reflection, respect and to calibrate.All those that lived and died.

We will remember  them.

[Hylander]

Remembering those who did so much for us all.

 

 

[Chelsea14Ian]

Today is also my daughter Nicola's birthday and my Grandfather's if he was still with us.Nicola is forty today.

[Hylander]

Would you please combine my post with Chelsea14ian post please?   We seemed to have the same idea at the same time.

 

[Ray]

My uncle Sgt D A J Holloway volunteered for the RAF after being involved in the rescue operation at a local pub that suffered bomb damage. Everyone wanted to be a pilot but he lacked the skills and ended up as a rear gunner on a Lancaster bomber with 101 Sqd based at Holme on Spalding Moor. On the night of the 16th November 1941 on a shakedown flight over Wales a photoflash flare exploded onboard. The Lancaster came down on a remote hill near Dolwen. All hands were lost, he was 17.

About 15 years ago I undertook to research his last flight and about 18 months later, I had his service records and campaign medals, had found and contacted family for all 7 crew members and had copies of the official report plus an aerial photo taken by the Squadron CO who flew out to the site the next morning. It was 101 Sqd first Lancaster loss

I visited the site with a memorial I carved on local slate and formed a cairn, which is still there.

 

Well you did ask! ☺

[grendel]

5 minutes ago, Hylander said:

Would you please combine my post with Chelsea14ian post please?   We seemed to have the same idea at the same time.

 

done

[Chelsea14Ian]

9 minutes ago, Ray said:

My uncle Sgt D A J Holloway volunteered for the RAF after being involved in the rescue operation at a local pub that suffered bomb damage. Everyone wanted to be a pilot but he lacked the skills and ended up as a rear gunner on a Lancaster bomber with 101 Sqd based at Holme on Spalding Moor. On the night of the 16th November 1941 on a shakedown flight over Wales a photoflash flare exploded onboard. The Lancaster came down on a remote hill near Dolwen. All hands were lost, he was 17.

About 15 years ago I undertook to research his last flight and about 18 months later, I had his service records and campaign medals, had found and contacted family for all 7 crew members and had copies of the official report plus an aerial photo taken by the Squadron CO who flew out to the site the next morning. It was 101 Sqd first Lancaster loss

I visited the site with a memorial I carved on local slate and formed a cairn, which is still there.

 

Well you did ask! ☺

A very sad story Ray.I was lucky enough a few years back to do the taxi run in Just Jane.I got a real feel of what it was like for those brave men.My thoughts with you and your family and friends .

[Ray]

Thank you Ian. My dad was so pleased to see his brother honoured and treasured the campaign medals I presented to him. Dad sadly has been gone for some years now too.

[Chelsea14Ian]

My shirt for today.I never served in the forces. I always wanted to be a pilot in the RAF.That never worked out sadly. However  I am a member of the Royal British Legion, I joined last year.I have collected for the poppy appeal for six years and very proud to  help.

[JennyMorgan]

My Uncle Jack , like many Anglians, was trapped in Singapore, an unwilling guest of the Japanese, working in the copper mines. His job was to wheel-barrow Australian troops, those who had had their feet cut off for trying to escape, backwards and forwards to the workface. He never spoke in depth of his time in Japan. He literally witnessed one of the atom bombs, he lived with skin cancer for the rest of his life.  Will we celebrate VJ day with the same enthusiasm?

My Dad was on the home front, a member of the Observer Corps, he volunteered and went to the D-Day landings, his job was to tell American gunners what was friendly and what wasn't. He also went on one mission aboard a Flying Fortress, Americans were prone to shooting at anything that moved, friend or foe! 

Neither claimed their campaign medals, both would occasionally meet up with friends that they had served with, neither spoke much about their experiences. I'm not sure how either would have responded to the call for street parties for example, so few of the participants could have been there. I rather suspect that both would have preferred to quietly remember the friends that never came home, that they could only remember as young men.

My Aunty Peggy was both a Land-Girl and in the run up to the D-Day Landing she drove lorries down to the South Coast, an experience that was an adventure for a county girl who had never been South of London. Clearly she had enjoyed that!

I lost another Uncle, his Stirling Bomber was hit by friendly fire when it returned from a mission.

Another Uncle, he flew pink Spitfires and light blue Mosquitoes over Germany, he was in photo recon., a successful career pilot, his attitude was that it was all a big adventure, a different attitude to the other men in my family. He thrived on his memories!

My flags are up, I'm joining in, but I do have mixed feelings. We mustn't forget, more a time for reflection for myself.

 

[Polly]

My Flags are up too. We were lucky that our parents came through. 
I am guessing that Phill’s dad was in Berlin on the first VE Day as a member of Montgomery’s Staff.

[Hylander]

34 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

My Uncle Jack , like many Anglians, was trapped in Singapore, an unwilling guest of the Japanese, working in the copper mines. His job was to wheel-barrow Australian troops, those who had had their feet cut off for trying to escape, backwards and forwards to the workface. He never spoke in depth of his time in Japan. He literally witnessed one of the atom bombs, he lived with skin cancer for the rest of his life.  Will we celebrate VJ day with the same enthusiasm?

 

How very sad.    The Japs unfortunately in the war were a cruel bunch and there is no denying it.   Thank goodness now they are one of the best nations.    Loyalty to someone in command was just never queried they just did as they were told or worse was issued to them.    A lot of Japanese soldiers were so traumatised they still believed the war was on even when it was over.    The evils of war personified.

I lived in Singapore as a teenager with parents in the RAF   and Mum used to tell me about Changi Jail .   We often passed it on the way to RAF Changi, never went to visit ,  far too grim.    Dad was at Seletar.   Dad died of cancer when he was 69,  he was among those who went to Christmas Island where they tested the bombs after the war.

We will raise a glass of wine this evening.  Bought a special bottle of red for the occasion.

God bless all of them.   Friends and foes.

 

 

 

[Chelsea14Ian]

The two minutes silence. Pleased to say it was totally silent her very fitting. 

Wh shell remember them. 

[grendel]

my parents were both still children during the war, living in deal kent, they were within range of the german big guns in france, they were also subjected to bombings, my dad was at school when the germans bombed it, my gran was called in to see if they could identify their children, when called over to a child wearing spectacles as my dad wore them, she was only able to say it wasnt him as the child was wearing the wrong style of shoe, my dad meanwhile had been taken into the smugglers tunnels that ran the length of the town, and was being lead to safety.

My mother was walking down the street with a school friend, when a fighter strafed the road they were walking down, and her friend was killed.

After these events both were evacuated, my dad only 5 miles further inland.

After the war my uncle was among those at christmas island for the atom bomb tests, he got throat cancer and was sent to america for radiation treatment, fortunately this seems to have worked, as he has had no reoccurance, but he still has to get checked up every year.

[BroadAmbition]

Ours and next doors decorated for the big day.  I have yet more flags up the loft but thought this was enough.  Apparently 'We' (That is the Grove) are expected to be in front of our gaffs with chairs / tables / libations etc around 1600 so we can celebrate together while maintaining being anti social!

Griff

 

[SwanR]

No flags out where I am and no events planned in our local streets as far as I am aware.

Like so many others I was thinking about the irony of celebrating our hard won freedom while locked down because of the unseen enemy. So my thoughts turned to where my mum and dad were. Mum would have been 17, living in Highgate and therefore probably out on the streets of London like so many others. But my dad is a different story. He served in 46RM Commando. I've been able to find him on their roll on the Commando Veterans Archive site. The history of the unit places him still in Germany on VE Day. 

"No. 46 Royal Marine Commando returned to North West Europe in January 1945 seeing action in Belgium, and in assault river crossings during the advance into Germany under the command of Lt. Col. Thomas Malcolm Gray MC

At the end of war in Europe in May 1945 they were resting in Neustadt, a small town on Kiel Bay, about 12 miles North of Lubeck. They remained in Germany until 8th June 1945.  This period was spent in occupational duties firstly on the Isle of Fehmarn, south east of Kiel,  and latterly at Bad Schwarteau on the outskirts of Lubeck."

 

[Turnoar]

Thank you to all those who made it VE Day, forever grateful.

[webntweb]

Dad joined the RAFVR in 1940. He knew he couldn't be a pilot as he wore glasses, but as he was a keen radio ham and he knew morse code he hoped to be a radio operator but he ended up as an engine fitter.

We don't know his full war service but he did basic training somewhere in Lincolnshire: mother mentioned changing trains at Oakham (Rutland) when she went to visit him. He also spent some time at Blackpool on aircraft maintenance.

In 1944/45 he was stationed at RAF Jui, near Freetown, Sierra Leone where he worked on Sunderland Flying Boats. The Sunderlands did coastal patrols spotting u-boats and dropping depth charges.

Because of the heat (relatively close to the equator), Malaria (RAF Jui was built on swampland) and the unfriendly wildlife (crocodiles, cheetahs, snakes etc) they were generally only allowed to stay there for less than a year.

The main threat from enemy action was that two of the countries adjacent to Sierra Leone were Vichy French and had German bases.

He was demobbed from RAF North Killingholme near Grimsby on 10th December 1945. North Killingholme was purely a Lancaster bomber base, although when my father was there for demobilisation, the Lancaster Squadron had been disbanded two months before. Incidentally the first bomb drop in Normandy in Operation Overlord was by a North Killinghome Lancaster "Bad Penny III".

Mother worked at Fairey Aviation, Ringway (now Manchester Airport) as a parachute packing supervisor. I always thought the parachutes were for delivery to RAF bases but I found out fairly recently that Ringway was the home of Number One Parachute Training School and 60,000 allied troops received training their there during the second world war.

Pic of my dad working on a Sunderland at RAF Jui - he had a bit of a tan!

[webntweb]

As a postscript to the above, we had our first holiday on the Broads in 1958 on Vestella 4. I know dad really wanted one of the Hearts cruisers but in those days you really had to book the year before if you wanted your choice of boats in the school holidays and I think we got the Vestellla on a cancellation.

Anyway we were all more than happy with the Vestella and combined with very good weather we had a wonderful holiday; so much so that we decided to come back in 1960 - mum later told us it took them two years to save up for the 1958 holiday.

I think dad did manage to book a Hearts boat for the 1960 holiday but unfortunately in the spring of 1960 he had a heart attack. Blakes (and I presume Hearts) were very good and refunded all our money - they wouldn't have had any problem re-selling a quality boat in the school holidays.

We had agreed to accompany another family on a caravan holiday in 1961 (printing trade still only got one weeks holiday a year in those days), so the Broads holiday was put off for another year.

Dad and a workmate booked a fishing holiday in February 63 but the boatyard was still frozen in, so that was cancelled. In March 63 dad died of a brain hemorrhage so he sadly never got his second Broads holiday.

I spent three holidays with friends on the Broads in the 60s then came back with my family in 1981 and have had regular Broads holidays since - so thanks to dad I have had 60 years of the wonderful Broads.

 

[Vaughan]

VE Day was a great celebration, but the war in the Pacific was not over.  On this day in 1945 my father was somewhere up the Irrawady River in the mangrove swamps known as "Chuangs",  just after they had re-captured Rangoon from the Japanese, on the 6th May.  He, as well as "Captain Tom" Moore, served in what has always been known as the Forgotten Army.

 

 

Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, supreme commander of allied forces in Burma, inspecting sailors of Royal Indian Navy coastal forces in Chittagong, just before the re-capture of the Arakan Coast.  Accompanying him, on his left, is my father.

 

Fairmile MLs of the 56th flotilla R.I.N., patrolling the Arakan coast just after the re-capture of Akyab. If you remember the "Golden Galleon" on the Broads, this is what she used to look like.

 

Landing forces assembling for the seaward assault on Rangoon, on 6th May, 1945.  Taken from one of the MLs of the 13th flotilla.

 

My father had escaped from Rangoon when it fell to the Japanese in February 1942, in a commandeered Swedish freighter, called Hendrick Jessen.  On the way out, they stopped to send a party ashore to blow up the Burma Oil Company's refinery and then actually sailed out between the invading Japanese ships, as they were not interested in a tramp steamer! She was later commissioned into the Indian Navy as H.M.I.S. "Barracuda" and became the depot and maintenance ship looking after 8 flotillas (65 boats) of Arakan coastal forces, for which my father was senior officer, so she was his headquarters.

In the winter of 1941/2 she was the last merchant ship to leave the ports of Hong Kong, Singapore, Rangoon and Akyab, before they each fell to the Japanese and in 1945 she was (effectively) the first ship to sail back into Akyab, Rangoon and Singapore when they were re-taken in 1945.

The first three photos are from my father's collection and the fourth is from a book published privately by officers who served in Arakan coastal forces.

[HEM]

My mother served in the WRENS - first in Tilbury (she lived with her parents in Kent in "bomb alley") and then on the Mumbles (Swansea).  She was a signaller (semaphore) - 4 hours on, 8 hours off.

My father was a student studying chemistry at Liverpool university.  They hadn't met at that stage (he was a couple of years younger than my mother).  Apart from learning to shoot & how to drive an army truck he didn't see active service.

We spent a year in Munich (1966/67) where he was visiting the TU München, working with E.O. Fischer who later won a Nobel Prize.  This was "only" 20 years after the war.

Now 75 years on I've been living in Northern Germany for around 40 years.  Made a number of friends, learnt to fly sailpanes...
Today the local newspaper had a full page spread about the British army arriving in the local towns.

 

 

[JennyMorgan]

Not far from where I live is an apartment block in which a lady died of the virus last week. Today, not a hundred yards away from that building there was a 'street party'. My daughter and I walked past, no social distancing, that much was obvious. This was about twelve thirty, folk were clearly enjoying themselves. These weren't irresponsible youngsters either, people in their 50's, 60's and probably 70's. The music was largely Alf Garnett and similar style war-time classics. Great party, if you like that sort of thing! Not sure about the timing though. 

[JennyMorgan]

2 hours ago, Vaughan said:

He, as well as "Captain Tom" Moore, served in what has always been known as the Forgotten Army.

Still forgotten?? How will we celebrate VJ day I wonder?

[Smoggy]

Maybe as an honor for Captain Tom our Boris could give us a bank holiday for VJ day!

I just fancy an extra bank holiday......

[Bluebell]

11 hours ago, Chelsea14Ian said:

Today of course is VE day.Marking seventy five years since the end of the war in Europe.Any stories you have of your familys during that dark time?any light hearted ones,near misses.

For us it would have big calibrated in a big way.Due to  this virus ,it wont be so.We can however still mark this in a different low key way.

My parents had not met.My mum worked in the Woolwich  Arsenal ,she together with my grandparents, uncle and Aunts in Eltham London.The house I grow up until I was sixteen.One day she dropped a tray of detonators. Think she frightened the life out of every one.My Father was a miner in County Durham. .He wanted to join the RAF,but was told to serve in the mines.He joined the RAF after the war,and sadly died in service of a massive heart attack when I was 28 months old. Mums brothers and sisters were to young.My eldest brother served in the army in India. I know very little about his service history. Mum said  there was a number of near misses. Think the family were very lucky.living close to central London and the docks and Woolwich Arsenal. They all ,thank goodness came out of it alive.

Today I'm sure we as a nation will pay respects to those that gave there life,those that suffered.

A day of reflection, respect and to calibrate.All those that lived and died.

We will remember  them.

I was interested  to read this, my grandad  also worked at the Woolwich Arsenal as an engineer, they lived in Eltham  at Congreve Road. As a child I had many happy days there and at Glenlea Road, and Elstow  Close.