South Holland and Deeping MP Sir John Hayes looks back at VE Day

On May 8th, 1945 at 3pm, Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that six years of blood, sweat, toil and tears on European soil was finally over.

The end of the Second World War, secured by Germany’s unconditional surrender, was a moment of national deliverance, collective relief and public rejoicing. From Somerset to South Holland; from Dundee to the Deepings, thousands poured onto the streets to celebrate - a human sea of union flags colouring our nation red, white and blue.

For those of us too young to recall the conflict, it is difficult to grasp the depth of sacrifice involved in that bloody clash of civilisations.

The loss of 384,000 soldiers, airman and sailors who gave their ‘tomorrows’ for King and country - and the service of so many more, like my father, who fought and came home marked by all they had endured - must always be remembered.

Remember too the 70,000 civilians who fell amongst the wreckage wrought by German bombs – each one hoping for a national and moral victory that they would never see.

Millions of Britons answered the call to serve. Whether fighting in the trenches, working on farms, accommodating evacuated children, fire watching or simply working, caring or healing, all played their part.

Also...

Hayes in the House: I will continue to fight for the area

Hayes in the House: Britain will succeed

Hayes in the House: The Chinese must be held to account

Seventy-five years on, the valour of the ‘war generation’ should shape and inspire today’s perspective. All of us – in one way or another – will encounter tough times, for such is the nature of life. Our character, though, is not measured by circumstances we face, but in the way we respond when truly tested.

Perhaps, in an era in which some complain of living lives devoid of meaning, echoes of the wartime spirit of service can be the catalyst to revitalise our communal pride and personal purpose.

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been heartening to see shared endeavour to provide for those who are vulnerable.

There was more than a sprinkle of wartime spirit in the response of the 750,000 people who rushed to pledge their support for the NHS as volunteers and I have seen and supported just the same spirit here in Lincolnshire, where so many are working tirelessly to protect and support others.

Of course, even in the jubilation of VE day, struggles continued. On the afternoon of May 8th, 1945, thousands of British and American soldiers were fighting in ongoing battles in the Far East. Yet, though many knew their war was not over, bound in common endeavour, they celebrated in the knowledge that the tide had turned.

As years go by and accounts of the Second World War move from the mouths of those who remember to the scripts of films and pages of novels, we must take care not to allow conflict to be glamorised. Whilst there will always be a duty to defend our nation – by force is necessary - and it is right to take pride in military prestige, it is peace which delivers prosperity and its pursuit must guide all we do.

Wars tear places apart, but also bring people together, as all common threats and shared fears do. Now, good souls across our area and all of Britain in their work for others and in the difference its making are, in the words used by Her Majesty the Queen, in her VE Day anniversary broadcast, making our nation one ‘that those brave soldiers, sailors and airmen would recognise and admire’.