Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day): Eighty years on

Today is the eightieth anniversary of Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day) and it is being marked by numerous ceremonies and celebrations across the UK. For many people, their impressions of V-E Day will be shaped by the photographs and newsreels of the celebrations that took place in London and many other cities, towns, and villages ...

... but my thoughts will be of the members of the armed services who were in Germany and the Far East, in the latter case, still fighting the Japanese.

Several members of my family fall into this category:

• My father, Sergeant George Cordery, who was serving with 6th Airborne Division and who had reached Wismar on the Baltic coast on 2nd May 1945. On 7th May 1945 British Field Marshal Montgomery and Soviet Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky met in Wismar prior to the handover of the city to the Russians as it was going to be in the Russian Occupied Zone of Germany. Along with other members of his unit, my father celebrated V-E Day with a warm bottle of beer.
• My maternal grandfather, Regimental Sergeant-Major Arthur Jackson, who was serving aboard a troopship transporting Allied troops in the Indian Ocean.
• My father-in-law, Sergeant James Bayne, who was working as a cook in HQ South East Asia Command, New Delhi, having retrained after been seriously wounded whilst serving as a signaller during the Imphal and Kohima Campaign.
• My maternal uncle, Steward Peter Oram, who was aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Indefatigable, which formed part of the British Pacific Fleet.

I will be remembering them today, and celebrating their contributions to the eventual victories in Europe and the Far East.