My Dad and VE Day
My Dad has been in the news a lot recently – in London, England – that is. The 75th anniversary of VE Day was May 8, 2020, and there was a large remembrance celebrated in London during the week leading up to it.
At the beginning of May, I received the Friday email from FindMyPast regarding the remembrance of VE Day. I was eager to response with a letter my Dad wrote to my Mom about this historical celebration. My Dad served in the 94th US Air Depot Group. His letter wrote about his pass to London that serendipitously occurred with VE Day. He enthusiastically celebrated with the enormously cheerful London crowds. The masses paraded through the town with ecstatic electricity to watch Prime Minister Churchill and King George give victory speeches.
As it turned out one of the newspapers was planning an “I was there….” kind of story, and Dad’s letter fit perfectly for that. On May 5 The Daily Mirror published some of Dad’s story along with one of the photos he took. These are shown on the left in the collage pictured above. Two days later The Daily Express expanded this article shown on the right of the collage.
To top it all off, the following day, May 8, FindMyPast’s blog (found here: Findmypast blog ) published my Dad’s entire letter and even more photos, the bottom image in the collage.We are humbled and excited that my Dad’s memories are shared with many in the remembrance of VE Day.
Patricia Coleman Genealogy 