Britain paid tribute to the second world war generation with flypasts, a two-minute silence, and the broadcast of Winston Churchill’s historic speech to mark the 75th anniversary of victory in Europe.
On a unique day of reflection and celebration, the Prince of Wales led the national moment of remembrance, as people stood with heads bowed on doorsteps and in gardens, and wreaths were laid at war memorials during small, physically distanced ceremonies.
Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall paid their respects in Scotland at the Balmoral war memorial, as a lone piper played. Charles, in highland dress, laid a wreath. The duchess, wearing the 4 Rifles dress and the regimental brooch of her father’s regiment, the 12th Royal Lancers, placed spring flowers she had picked from their garden at their nearby Birkhall home.
A cannon fired from Edinburgh castle began and ended the silence.
Wreaths were also laid at Westminster on the anniversary of the day Sir Winston Churchill announced the war in Europe had come to an end after almost six years, with the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany.
Earlier, the Red Arrows streamed red, white and blue as they roared over central London, passing above the Mall, now deserted but which was to have been packed with thousands for a veterans’ parade and joyful reunions with old comrades. RAF Typhoon jets performed flypasts over Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast at the same time. A Spitfire flypast soared over the white cliffs of Dover.
Footage of Churchill’s radio address was broadcast at 3pm, while Royal Navy warships and support vessels blasted their sirens for a minute to celebrate victory, marking the hour of the address 75 years ago. There followed the Nation’s Toast, “To those who gave so much, we thank you.”
In a UK first, messages such as We Will Meet Again and Thank You were etched in the sky above Henstridge airfield in Somerset, the display commissioned by the Department for Transport, which recently introduced a law change to allow skytyping and skywriting to take place.
With original elaborate plans hastily rearranged because of Covid-19, the wartime generation, who the prime minister, Boris Johnson, said had “carried the fate of freedom on their shoulders”, were confined to their homes. Crowded street parties, one of the defining images of VE Day, are banned.
But even strict physical-distancing measures could not mute the mood of celebration as households across the country evoked the spirit of the 1940s, some dressing in period costume and hosting tea parties. Where possible, care homes organised singalongs and festivities for residents. It may not have been the day planned, but VE Day 75 will itself become a footnote in history.
Dramatically scaled back events include a BBC special evening programme of celebration, featuring stars including the Welsh soprano Katherine Jenkins, and broadcast from the quadrangle at Buckingham Palace, which emerged bomb-scarred from the blitz.
It was from here George VI made his famous radio broadcast to the nation on 8 May 1945. The Queen’s special address will be broadcast at 9pm, at the same hour. It will be immediately followed by a nationwide rendition of the wartime classic We’ll Meet Again, with Dame Vera Lynn, 103, joining from her home in East Sussex, and the public invited to sing from their doorsteps.
Churchill’s historic victory address was broadcast on the BBC at 3pm, exactly 75 years to the hour. Prince Charles has chosen to read an extract from his grandfather’s diary of the day, outlining the royal family’s appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, and lunch with Churchill.
The prime minister has written to veterans, who were to have been the focus of national and local parades and church services, but were forced to spend the day alone or with close family only. He assured them that despite the ongoing lockdown, they and their efforts to defeat a “ruthless enemy” would not be forgotten.
“We cannot pay our tribute with the parades and street celebrations we enjoyed in the past; your loved ones may be unable to visit in person. But please allow us, your proud compatriots, to be the first to offer our gratitude, our heartfelt thanks and our solemn pledge: you will always be remembered,” he wrote.
Among those veterans was Capt Tom Moore, 100, who captured the nation’s heart by raising more than £32m for the NHS through walking lengths of his garden. Moore, the subject of an ITV documentary at 8pm on Friday, fought in Burma.
“It’s a very special day that is celebrating the end of a very fearsome war in Europe,” he told ITV’s Good Morning. VE Day was a “very, very happy day”, he recalled. But, despite the war ending in Europe, his comrades in Burma fought on. “My thoughts were with them because although there were great celebrations here, all my comrades were still fighting in Burma with the Japanese.”
