VE Day Anniversary

This weekend has commemorated the 70th anniversary of victory in Europe (VE) at the end of World War 2. Reading the article on the BBC News, it suddenly hit me that these veterans are getting older. These men and women, who fought bravely for Britain, now remind me of when I was a child and would see the veterans of World War 1 at the Cenotaph at Remembrance Day services. And it made me think that we must listen to these men and women and hear their first hand accounts of serving in World War 2.

Whilst there were 1,000 veterans at the service attended by the Queen, and obviously many more throughout the country, their numbers are falling. It is almost six years since Harry Patch, the last British veteran of World War 1, passed away and four years since Frank Buckles, the last known veteran of World War 1 passed away. However, these men were not the norm, with Mr Patch passing away at 111 years of age and Mr Buckles at 110 years of age. along with a small handful of other veterans who passed away at around the same time, these men lived exceptionally long lives; much longer than the UK average of 83 years for men and 79 years for men. This means that these veterans are already on 'borrowed time' and we need to value them whilst they are here.

70 years is a monumental anniversary and we should celebrate it. However, the anniversary has been poorly covered in the media, with more focus on how wrong the general election polls were. Instead, we should have been focussing our efforts on celebrating the end of World War 2 and the service these veterans provided to the country. Without them, we may not have had a general election at all.

So, on a final note, if there are any World War 2 veterans reading this, I would like to say a massive thank you to what you did for this country and the sacrifice you were prepared to make. Thank you!


11/5/15 - edited to add that, whilst Mr Patch was widely publicised as being the last British veteran of World War 1, it appears that this information is not completely accurate. Whilst he may have been the last British survivor to have fought in World War 1, Florence Green, who passed away in 2012 aged 110 years had been a steward in the officer's mess and a member of the Women's Royal Air Force.