Get the latest on coronavirus. Sign up to the Daily Brief for news, explainers, how-tos, opinion and more.
“VE Day should never be forgotten – lockdown or not. There are so many ways to celebrate, so we will make sure we still make it special for those who lived through it.”
Care home worker Kelly Bannister is filled with pride when she meets veterans. “Without them,” she says, “we would not be where we are today – we owe them the world.”
Victory in Europe Day, more commonly known as VE Day, was the public holiday celebrated on May 8, 1945, to mark Nazi Germany’s surrender.
More than a million people celebrated in the streets as the Second World War, which had lasted nearly six years, came to an end.
Friday marks 75 years since VE Day. To commemorate the anniversary, the early May bank holiday traditionally held on the first Monday of the month has been pushed back four days.
Yet poignantly, the coronavirus outbreak means there will be no street parties, parades or public festivities this year.
The majority of surviving Second World War veterans are now well into their 90s, if not older – meaning they are among those most vulnerable to Covid-19.
Those who faced isolation from their loved ones during wartime now face separation from their families all over again as the country gets to grips with its biggest national crisis in the years since.
But despite the lockdown, care homes across the UK – where many of those who lived through VE Day reside – have come up with creative ways to celebrate the momentous day and pay tribute to the Second World War generation.
“We should never forget the sacrifices they made, lockdown or not.”
- Kelly Bannister, Ashcroft Care Home
Kelly, 31, is activities co-ordinator at Ashcroft Care Home in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, run by Four Seasons Health Care.
She told HuffPost UK: “We are proud of any veterans we get in. Without them, we would not be where we are today, and we owe them the world.
“VE Day is a huge deal for this country and the people who went through it spent a long time in a hard place and this day represents them finally getting their freedom back.
“We should never forget the sacrifices they made, lockdown or not. We should be proud and celebrate not only those who went to war, but those who lived through it at home as well.”
One resident at Ashcroft Care Home who has emotional memories of the war and all that VE Day represents is 97-year-old Graham Willis.
Graham, from the village of Cressbrook in Derbyshire, is an RAF veteran who worked in signalling, calling planes in using Morse code.
His abiding memory is having his life saved during the D-Day landings on Juno Beach in France.
His son Ron Willis, 68, told HuffPost UK: “My dad has vivid memories of scrambling along the beach while being shot at by Germans when this Canadian soldier suddenly grabbed him, dragged him out of the way and saved his life.
“He knows that he would definitely be dead if it hadn’t been for the actions of this Canadian man and he gets very emotional talking about it. He never saw the man who saved his life again.”
After the war ended, Graham got married and had two children. But his marriage broke down and he moved back in with his own parents, taking Ron with him. He worked at a mill and then ran a pub before going on to work for a cement making company.
The father-of-two now has three grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. Sadly, his second wife Eileen died four years ago.
Ron said: “After his wife died, my dad was still managing to live at home and I would go and see him regularly and take him out.
“Then he started having problems walking and had to go into hospital a few times. He had home care and was still living at home. But then he deteriorated and went into Ashcroft Care Home earlier this year.”
Ron told HuffPost UK he went to see his father every Thursday at the care home and would take him out. “He knew I would be coming and would get ready and we would go for a couple of pints in the pub down the road.
“But I have not seen him since lockdown and it is impossible to talk to him over the telephone as all you can hear is a mumble.
“There is absolutely nothing I can do during this coronavirus outbreak except wait until it is safe to go to the care home.”
Ron says VE Day is a very personal time for his dad as he would be thinking about the people and friends who died around him and remembering his near-death experience.
“There’s not many of them left now who fought in the Second World War,” he said. “It must have been a very frightening time for them.
“VE Day should not be forgotten and we should remember the sacrifices people made. But as well as celebrating, it should act as a warning.
“The coronavirus pandemic is another crisis and it should not be driving people apart. Even though people can’t see each other, it should be bringing them closer together.”
Kelly, who describes Graham as “a cheeky chappie”, told HuffPost UK he gets very tearful when recalling the moment he was shot at and had his life saved.
Care home staff recognise that, while VE Day is a time of celebration for residents, it can also unleash unpleasant memories.
“We try to make VE Day all about the residents and it is a time to celebrate,” said Kelly. “But we did not have to live through what they did and we have to be careful and are sympathetic enough to know that not all the memories are good.”
Ashcroft Care Home will be celebrating VE Day 2020 with a BBQ and garden party, and will also put on a karaoke for residents with songs from the 1940s and 1950s. It will be recorded and put on Facebook so families can see their loved ones taking part in the fun.
Across other Four Seasons Health Care care homes, VE Day celebrations include serving special wartime dishes on Union Jack plates, dressing up in vintage clothing, holding street parties at the home, and having a wartime singalong.
Over in Scotland, the charity Erskine runs four homes for veterans and their spouses.
One of their residents at the Erskine Home in Bishopton is 100-year-old Isobel Kirkwood, who has vivid memories of VE Day.
At the time, she was newly married, expecting a baby and teaching at a primary school in west London. She remembers her headteacher saying the war was coming to an end and there was to be a public holiday.
Isobel decided the only place to be on such a day was outside Buckingham Palace and travelled there on the Underground with a friend. She recalls standing outside the palace along with the crowds yelling: “We want the King.”
“The atmosphere was jolly, it was a happy crowd and people were waving flags,” she said. “I remember the King and the royal family of four did come out onto the balcony and they waved to the crowds below.
“I shall never forget the roar as Winston Churchill joined them and you could feel the emotion, the gratitude of a nation for the way he kept morale high during the war.”
“It meant hope and a certain excitement. It meant my good-looking Spitfire pilot husband would return safe and sound.”
- Isobel Kirkwood
One of Isobel’s most treasured possessions is a newspaper from 2005 that shows an image of the royal family on the balcony on VE Day, on which she has penned the words: “I was in front of the palace and witnessed this scene on May 8th 1945 – Isobel Kirkwood.”
For Isobel, VE Day represented joy and hope. “It meant hope and a certain excitement,” she said. “It meant my good-looking Spitfire pilot husband would return safe and sound.
“We would start family life together in Scotland and, until he was demobbed, I would teach in a normal classroom with no fear of air raids.
“I realised that my first five years of teaching in 1940 to 1945 had been in shelters due to the Battle of Britain and the Blitz.”
Isobel and husband Robert went on to have a son, Roger, who lives in Manchester and has two sons of his own.
Robert was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and in 1982 Isobel retired so she could drive him around for his job as a salesman.
But his condition deteriorated and their GP suggested going to Erskine for respite care. Eventually, he moved into Erskine permanently in 1995.
Isobel volunteered for more than 25 years for Erskine as she felt the charity cared deeply about her husband, who died in 2003. She was awarded a British Empire Medal in 2016 for her services to charity.
Having turned 100 in December last year, Isobel now lives in the care home she has given so much to over the years.
Also among the 180 resident of The Erskine Home is army veteran Jim Gorrie, now 91.
He was 11 when war broke out on September 3, 1939, and having lived through the bombing and trips to the air raid shelters he knew VE Day was a time for celebration six years later.
He recalls how, at the age of 17, he and his family in Glasgow prepared for the announcement along with the rest of the street.
“All my family lived very close together,” he said. “My Gran and Grampa lived across the road and my Uncle Jack, who lost his arm in the Somme, and Aunt Patsy lived a couple of doors down.
“We had lived through the war together and we celebrated together.”
Jim, who was working as a signal boy for the London and Midland and Scottish Railways, remembers still having to go to work as no one got the day off.
But he recalls the streets being decorated with flags and trestle tables and food being brought out for the street party.
“We obviously still had food rationing so the food was a bit different to what it would have been today, but I will never forget the cake made with banana essence.”
Jim and several of his friends were aware that, on turning 18, they would be conscripted: although the war was over in Europe, it wasn’t in the Far East.
Sure enough, he was conscripted to the Seaforth Highlanders and sent to Malaya, one of the very places Japan had invaded.
Jim told HuffPost UK there were similarities with the war when it came to celebrating VE Day at a time when the country is back in national crisis.
But during wartime, he said, people had their families to support them.
“Now we are dependent on all the staff for our everyday needs as we can’t see our family,” he told HuffPost UK.
“It’s absolutely terrible and although I can talk to them on the phone and Skype, it’s not the same as seeing them face-to-face.
“I miss my family terribly but what can we do? It’s how it is with this coronavirus. The staff have been very good and understanding.”
For VE Day, each house within The Erskine Home will have a tea party. Chefs will provide a buffet style lunch for all residents and the party will continue into the afternoon with music and singing.
ABF The Soldiers’ Charity has provided £1,000 of VE Day partyware for the home and have sent ABF 75th anniversary merchandise for all residents and staff.
Lesley Wylie, acting home manager at The Erskine Home, told HuffPost UK: “We celebrate VE Day every year within our four care homes. It is very important that such a momentous occasion is never forgotten as all our residents are veterans or spouses of veterans.
“Marking the ending of war in Europe has poignant significance.
“As residents from different houses cannot mix at present, VE Day will be different this year, but it is even more important both for residents and staff to enjoy a special afternoon of VE Day themed entertainment and food while respecting social distancing during in-house celebrations.”
Nadra Ahmed, chair of the National Care Association, told HuffPost UK it was imperative to mark the courage of veterans and those who lived through the wars on VE Day.
“This generation now faces a germ warfare which is unprecedented. It is an indictment of our society that this government has failed to implement sufficient measures to protect them as they should be.”
- Nadra Ahmed, National Care Association
“The bravery of the veterans in our services and those who lived through the wars shows through even today, with exceptional and notable feats being achieved by individuals of that era,” she said.
“VE Day will celebrate the efforts of those who are with us and those we lost during the period. Our generations and those to come owe an enormous debt of gratitude to them as they made it possible for us to live in a free world.”
But, she added, the government has failed to provide sufficient measures to protect the vulnerable in care homes against coronavirus.
She said: “This generation now faces a germ warfare which is unprecedented.
“It is an indictment of our society that this government has failed to implement sufficient measures to protect them as they should be.
“I would like to thank all care workers who continue to do an amazing job supporting our valued and vulnerable citizens across the country, across all care services.”