VE Day

It was 64 years ago that the first step to the end of World War 2 took place. Peace was declared in Europe today as Nazi Germany was defeated and surrendered to the combined Allied forces - VE Day. I think those of us who were born long after those times have no real conception of what it was like. And reading books or watching films doesn’t really convey the horror for those who fought (on both sides). I think the only programme that has really come close is a TV series called Band of Brothers which I can highly recommend, but even this glosses over some of the details.

Nowadays we are used to seeing war ‘live’ on TV. The technology makes it look like a video game to the casual observer. And the scale of the carnage is significantly lower than it used to be. In World War 2 over 55 million people lost their lives – incomprehensible today, even when compared to things like the South East Asia tsunami of a few years ago.

So I say thank you to those who fought and died for our freedom all those years ago. I hope they are happy with how things have generally turned out and they don’t feel we have wasted the opportunity so many of them paid the ultimate price to give us.