VE Day - 8th May

After 6 long years of war, the conflict in Europe finally came to an end in the early hours of 7th May 1945, with a day of celebration, to be known as Victory in Europe Day, decreed for the following day, 8th. At great cost, the Allied forces had completed an incredible task.

But let's not forget that the continuing war on the other side of the world, in Japan, still had to be fought and won.

Here is a poem I have written which appears in my book, "We Were There...and other wartime poems"

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Victory in Europe had come and gone

Six long years we’d endured

Celebrations, parties and flags

No more bombs, peace assured

But there was still a war far away to be won

On the other side of the earth

The Japanese Empire, a formidable foe

We’d fight for all we were worth

Our CO had spoken on the eighth of May

‘Don’t think you’re being released’

‘There’s another job that has to be done’

We were all being sent to the Far East

No chance of leave, more training to come

War in the jungle was new

The Japs were experts at what they did

For us, new skills to accrue

We sailed on the ships, thousands on board

To the Cape through the Suez Canal

Late July came, and everything changed

Were we not now heading for hell?

At anchor for days, a week, maybe two

An order to send us back home

It seems the fight in Japan was done

Something to do with a bomb

The whole World War was finally over

And back to Blighty we’re sent

Two weeks leave I was now allowed

A return to my cottage in Kent

Three bloody years since I last went back home

A school my daughter had started

Would she know me, would she be scared?

Would she even know we’d been parted?

I knocked on the door, I hadn’t a key

But movement I heard from inside

A tiny face peered out through the crack

The face of my girl, and I cried

‘You’re Daddy,’ she said, her face lighting up

I swept her up in the air

I hugged and kissed both her and my wife

A special moment to share

I always knew I would have to go back

But a date had finally been set

By the end of the year, I’d be back home for good

An old life to find and reset

I never thought I’d see the day

The end of the army and war

But family life was welcome and warm

Behind our cosy front door.