Second World War veterans, aged from 98 to 104 years old, are to meet the King at a Buckingham Palace tea party in a special event to help mark VE Day, the Royal British Legion has said.
A 98-year-old former prisoner of war, a 99-year-old who served in the Desert Rats and took part in the D-Day landings and a 100-year-old woman who worked in the Special Operations Executive (SOE), known as Churchill’s Secret Army, are among 30 veteran guests of honour, according to the Royal British Legion (RBL), who helped organise the event.
They will have prime spots to watch the military parade and flypast in central London as the nation’s VE Day 80th anniversary celebrations begin on Monday.
RBL director general Mark Atkinson said the charity was “proud” to be taking a place “at the heart of these national celebrations and commemorations as this really will be one of our last opportunities as a nation to pay tribute to those veterans still with us today”.
British and Commonwealth armed forces veterans from the Royal Navy, the British Army and the Royal Air Force, plus Wrens, Special Operations Executives, D-Day veterans and Desert Rats are among those who are attending the tea party with Charles and other members of the royal family.
They will be joined by veterans who were still in active conflict in other parts of the world after VE Day and people who contributed to the war effort on the home front, plus their families and carers.
Evacuees are also among some of the other 20 Second World War generation guests who are set to attend.
It will be a return to Buckingham Palace for Joyce Wilding, 100, and Ruth Bourne, 98, who was a Wren at Bletchley Park where Nazi messages were intercepted. They were both in the huge crowds outside Buckingham Palace 80 years ago that celebrated VE Day in 1945.
Ms Wilding enlisted at the age of 18 in to the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY), worked in the SOE, transported forged documents and helped agents behind enemy lines.
Ms Wilding, who recalls VE Day as being filled with joy and celebration, said: “We went to Piccadilly where there was a stream of people singing and dancing. We joined a crocodile and did the Palais Glide down Piccadilly.
“There were soldiers up lampposts, it was extraordinary. We were outside Buckingham Palace and you could hardly move there were so many people cheering and singing.”
Olga Hopkins, 99, is also among the 10 female veterans who served as codebreakers, drivers and mechanics that are looking forward to the tea party.
She remembers hearing about VE Day as she was lying in bed in a Nissen Hut and listening to the American Forces Network radio.
Ms Hopkins, who was a wireless mechanic in the WAAF, said: “Suddenly the programme was interrupted by a tannoy announcement saying, ‘The war is over. The war is over. It’s been signed’.
“We all jumped out of bed and put our battledress on over our pyjamas.
“We went to the sergeant’s mess where there was a party going on, so we joined in.
“I remember me and some other girls singing the Cole Porter song Don’t Fence Me In, and I had a whale of a time.”
Gilbert Clarke, 98, who was in Jamaica in 1943 when he lied about his age to respond to a call to join the RAF, is also among the guests.
Within days Mr Clarke was kitted out, receiving basic training and being sent on a troop-carrying ship to Britain via the United States, the RBL said.
He eventually arrived in Britain in 1944, despite German U-boat-launched torpedo attacks which hit several ships that were travelling alongside his on the route.
D-Day veteran Bernard Morgan, 101, is also looking forward to the tea party.
He was a codebreaker during the war using equipment that was so sensitive he could not risk it being captured by the enemy.
Two days before VE Day, he received a telex to say “German war now over, surrender effective sometime tomorrow” but kept it secret.
Another veteran guest is Norman Trickett, 98, who joined the Army aged 18, was captured by Germans at the beginning of May 1945 leading an advance scouting patrol, and ended the war as a prisoner in Bremerhaven.
He was also part of the D-Day landings and served at Arnhem, helping airborne troops beat back German counter-attacks.
Alan Kennett, 100, who was in the RAF with the Mustang Squadron and was in Celle near Belsen on VE Day, said he was “honoured” to be the procession torch bearer on Monday.
Mr Atkinson added: “To think that in 1945, after six years of devastating war, they were rejoicing that VE Day had finally come – and here they are now, 80 years later, proudly meeting our patron the King and Queen on this very special day.
“We owe them, and the entire Second World War generation, our eternal thanks and gratitude.”
