VE & VJ Remembered

Today, hundreds of military and veteran parades will take place in towns and cities across the United Kingdom for the VE and VJ 60th anniversary celebrations.  This weekend was chosen because it falls midway between VE Day (08.05.45) and VJ Day (15.08.45).  Much of what makes us still proud to be British - despite the innumerable pitfalls of our country - will be in evidence this afternoon.  The parades are part of a series of events commemorating the defeat of Germany and Japan occurring throughout the country between now and early 2006.  For people in the Irish Republic who want to recall and pay thanks to the supreme sacrifice of that country's volunteers, brave enough to treat De Valera's 'neutrality' with the contempt it deserved, there will be a service of thanksgiving at the Islandmagee Memorial in Phoenix Park, Dublin this afternoon.  Here in the UK, the main events of today are taking place in the following locations:

1. Swanage parade and service, Swanage, Dorset.
2. Service at Westminster Abbey, London.
3. Parade event, Horse Guards Parade, The Mall, London.
4. Victoria Fireworks Fantasia, march past and wreath laying, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham.
5. Service and open day parade, Macclesfield, Cheshire.
6. Nottingham parade and thanksgiving service (11:00), Nottingham.
7. Service of thanksgiving, Wells Cathedral, Wells, Somerset.
8. Service of thanksgiving, Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln.
9. Parade and service, Chester.
10. Garden party and commemoration, Government House, Douglas, Isle of Man.
11. Thanksgiving parade, Newcastle.
12. Thanksgiving service, Anglican Cathedral, Liverpool.
13. Veterans service in Abbey Gardens, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.
14. Parade and service, Chelmsford, Essex.
15. Marquee event, National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire.

I hope some ATW readers will be able to attend one of the celebrations to show their gratitude.

Comments

[Ciarán]

Andrew, I wish I could go to the Islandbridge memorial today, both to commemorate the genuine fight for freedom of our grandparents' generation and to remember the very high price that people pay for war.

As for Dev, well he had his reasons for keeping Ireland out. Since the country was only 15 odd years out of a civil war, Dev didn't want to risk kicking off another one. Amongst other things, that may have precipitated an Allied invasion, wasting Allied resources in an attempt to stabilise the Western Approaches.

Still, while I understand his reasoning, I can't help but think that it was a terrible mistake not to engage in some limited way that would have helped without destabilising the country (there were bits and pieces, but nothing much). The almost total isolationist line means that Louis MacNeice's condemnation should still ring in our ears.

[The Troll]

The true aniversary is 7/16 The Trinity Test of the Gadget.

[Richard]

Dev was very smart in not joining the crusade. He would have seen Irishmen ill used in the same manner the Poles were.

Oh, by the way, will you also be celebrating the Polish Pilots who saved you in the Battle of Britain and then were charged for the privilege after the war?

[skye]

Those elite Polish Pilots along with the talented Eagle Squadron, and RAF are remembered to this day. It comes as no surprise these three great nations are once again standing together against terrorism.

By 1945, The British government was essentially bankrupt. Most of the costs of this world war was borrowed.

In the United States following WW2, the national debt rose from $49 billion in 1941 to $259 billion. As with Britain, most of this cost was borrowed. The President, movie stars and young men and women in makeshift stands pleaded to everyone to "Buy War Bonds". I believe there were similiar programs like this in Britain.

The demand for repayment by the British government to the Polish government-in-exile, at first blush, appears distasteful. It pales in comparison to the after-effects of the Yalta Agreement.

[Richard]

To translate Skye:
Britain was broke and needed the money so the international equivalent of junkies boosting cars was appropriate.

Hey, if you thing taking the Poles gold was bad, the UK really prostituted itself at Yalta.

I see his point and it does completely exculpate Britain. NOT!

[David Vance]

"Dev was very smart in not joining the crusade.."

To translate our temporary new poster Richard...

"Dev was afraid to take on the Nazi's, so he let braver nations like Britain do it..."

[skye]

Asking for payment from those we helped. Rather like the way the libs keep demanding that Iraq pay for its liberation.

Oh..but that's ENTIRELY different, isn't it?

-----------------------
Britain was broke and needed the money so the international equivalent of junkies boosting cars was appropriate.

Hey, if you thing taking the Poles gold was bad, the UK really prostituted itself at Yalta.

[Richard]

"Dev was afraid to take on the Nazi's, so he let braver nations like Britain do it..."

Darn, you are right. Dev should have given assurances to Poland that there is no way he could have kept and seen them sold out at the end of the war just like the brave Brits did.

You throw around this "brave" stuff from the safety of home. Enlist and prove it.

[cash 4 christmas]

It's properly delivered and well written.