80 Years of V.E. Day: A Raucous and Reflective Affair
“My dear friends, this is your hour.”
So began the inaugural V.E. Day address from Churchill in 1945 to constituents whose lives had been shaped by chaos and sacrifice for over half a decade. While the war against Imperial Japan would not end for a few more months, and the rationing of certain goods would continue for another nine years, the prospect of lasting peace in Europe – seemingly so tenuous for the first half of the century – was met with a nation-wide exhale. The time to truly live again had come.
The Golden Generation are often defined by their ability to have circumvented total despair during wartime (see “Blitz Spirit, “Keep Calm and Carry on”), but, with the burden of the Third Reich gone, this was indeed their hour, and a deeply cathartic day of jubilation followed. Pubs overflowed with revellers. Hourly services at Westminster Abbey amassed 25,000 attendees throughout the day.
The Royal Family made no less than eight public appearances on V.E. Day, their warm reception bolstered by the knowledge that King George VI and Queen Elizabeth had bravely insisted on remaining in the capital during the Blitz, as alluded to in his speech:
“In the darkest hours we knew that the enslaved and isolated peoples of Europe looked to us; their hopes were our hopes; their confidence confirmed our faith. We knew that, if we failed, the last remaining barrier against a world-wide tyranny would have fallen in ruins. But we did not fail. We kept our faith with ourselves and with one another; we kept faith and unity with our great allies. That faith and unity have carried us to victory through dangers which at times seemed overwhelming.”
That darkest hour, a phrase employed by both the wartime PM and the King, had finally given way to a new dawn for Britain. If this Sceptered Isle’s response during a time of unprecedented threat is anything to judge by, there’s an enduring hope instilled by those who stepped up to serve – squaddie and civilian alike – that together, we can once again withstand the worst to come.
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