Where was your parent on VE-Day?

[Ken Atkinson]

Where were your parents on VE-Day?
Through the war 30,248 Merchant Navy Seamen aged 14 to 79 had been killed, usually with no known grave, due to enemy action. This was a 27% rate, making it more dangerous than the armed forces. At the declaration of war they returned from South America, luckily avoiding submarines to be given white feathers for cowardice by the “ladies” of South Wales for being ashore out of uniform.
“While we were in Alexandria, V. E. Day was declared and as the day was a holiday, Fred, the Captain and I flew down to Cairo to visit the Pyramids of Gizeh with the nearby Sphinx and temples and the bazaars in Cairo to make a very interesting day.”

Norman, my father-in-law, was a regular soldier, having returned from North Africa and Italy to Otterburn Camp awaiting orders to finish off the Japanese.

[Des Jenkins]

Hi Ken.
What a great clear shot from so long ago.
AS for what my parents where doing my poor Father was probably having a lay down after double shifts in a steel works and dreaming of a normal life again. My brother was syill at sea.
Cheers Des

[j.sabourn]

#1. I recollect from somewhere Ken, it may even of been on this site that out of all the war deaths in the armed forces , that the deaths of merchant seamen exceeded them all on an average of the total enmasse .Has anyone seen or read these statistics ? If true is it just shoved under the carpet ? E.G.if the manpower of the MN was 100,000,and 30,000 were lost tis would have been 30%, whereas of the millions in the armed services would by any rules of counting be less than this percentage wise. Seafarers were in a war zone continuously whereas others weren’t also. Also civilian statistics percentage wise is never really shown. Those who make a subject of warfare would be the best ones to give replies to these query’s.Also there were a large percentage of the armed forces were non combatant , every merchant seaman was in a war zone from the ship leaving port. JS

[happy daze john in oz]

My father was still in Gibraltar with the transport division.
Mum was most likely still hiding under the table with me, where she would go when the bombs were on their way down.

Good job it was named Victory in Europe and not Victory over Deutsland.

[Johnny Kieran]

Talking about victory over an enemy. What get's up my nose most these days, is how most media call it "victory over the Nazis" and not "victory over Germany". My Grandkids were told in school, that WW2 was against the Nazis. Even in the news, most report about "the war with the Nazis" these days. It's probably a woke thing, created when the EU was invented.

[j.sabourn]

My father was still in Burma as the war was not over. It took two atomic bombs for the japs to get the message.it was 1946 before he got home still in his slouch hat and army khaki drills , he was covered in boils and had toothache. By that time we had emigrated back to Whitley Bay , about 3 weeks later he got his demob suit as regards his tooth ache he celebrated by having every tooth in his head good or bad extracted . My mother on the other hand was still employed as a fitter at the hawker Hurricane factory in Kingston on Thames on VE Day . But we all managed to get back up to the NE before we got him back to the land fit for heroes , which consisted of two rented furnished rooms.Later got a council house after a long queue for same , depending on who you knew on the council . The only home of their own they ever had in their long married life together. JS.

[Ivan Cloherty]

My father was in the Pacific on the 'Empire Rival' joined her 20th September 1944 and signed off on 29th August 1945.

I was living in a condemned cottage on Yorkshire Dales, with no water, gas or electric, outside tap and dunny and paraffin lamps (I still have one of them) after being bombed out three times, London, Manchester and York. I'll say one thing about Hitler, he gave me a taste for travel. It was 1951 before I lived in a house with electricity, gas and water.

What good old days !!! ugh!!!

[J Gowers]

My Dad was in a reserved occupation building tanks at Dalmuir near Clydebank. He lived in Maryhill, Glasgow and on VE day (six years before I was born) he along with all the kids on the street tore down the wooden baffles that were in front of the tenement close entrances and built a bonfire in the middle of the street, unfortunatly it was so hot it set the tarmac alight and the fire brigade had to come and put out the flames.