Remarkable V.E day(and aftermath) images

[Spandex]

My grandfather was serving in the Navy right up to VJ Day so no piss-up for him.

My grandad was on the destroyer HMS Quadrant as part of the British Pacific Fleet. He spent the first part of May 1945 travelling from Syndey to the battle of Okinawa. He spent late May taking part in the attack on the kamikaze airfields of the Sakishima Islands, a battle that lasted 82 days in total and is said to have used more ordinance than was used at Iwo Jima.

After some R&R in June, the Quadrant was back attacking the main Japanese islands. He used to tell me a story of how they were off to bomb a harbor, when an order came to turn around and sail away as quickly as possible. That harbour: Nagasaki.

Yeah, the war didn't end for lots of people on VE day.

 

[Deadstick 1944]

North Manchester

View attachment 211253

Manchester is where my Mum was from,she was living there in the war,Stretford road area,if she was alive she wouldn't recognize the City,i was working there most weeks until just before the lockdown.

 

[Deadstick 1944]

My grandad was on the destroyer HMS Quadrant as part of the British Pacific Fleet. He spent the first part of May 1945 travelling from Syndey to the battle of Okinawa. He spent late May taking part in the attack on the kamikaze airfields of the Sakishima Islands, a battle that lasted 82 days in total and is said to have used more ordinance than was used at Iwo Jima.

After some R&R in June, the Quadrant was back attacking the main Japanese islands. He used to tell me a story of how they were off to bomb a harbor, when an order came to turn around and sail away as quickly as possible. That harbour: Nagasaki.

Yeah, the war didn't end for lots of people on VE day.

That Naval force your Grandad was part of was same as my Uncle was part of, it was called task force 57,attached to the Amerricans, his aircraft carrier HMS Victorious was hit three times off Okinawa with Kamikazi,he was 22 years old and a Orlikon anti aircraft gunner,after the war he came home with a very bad stammer,my Dad said he couldn't string a sentence together without stammering,then about two years later it just went away.

 

[The39thStep]

Manchester is where my Mum was from,she was living there in the war,Stretford road area,if she was alive she wouldn't recognize the City,i was working there most weeks until just before the lockdown.

I'm from London originally but moved to Manchester 30 years ago (although currently I am in Portugal) .I lived in a few places there and still have a flat in Stockport. I love Manchester .

 

[Steel Icarus]

My grandpa was a Morse code operator on ships protecting other ships, spent time in Alexandria, Cape of Good Hope, etc. He was torpedoed twice. He started thinking Hitler had it in for him. First time the ship took a while to sink, the second time they had to jump 50 feet into the sea and swim to another ship as his was in a bad state. A mate of his got up and down ladders and made it safely to another vessel before realising he had a broken leg.

My grandpa's take on it all was that the war was absolutely necessary, and absolutely nothing to celebrate.

 

[Deadstick 1944]

I'm from London originally but moved to Manchester 30 years ago (although currently I am in Portugal) .I lived in a few places there and still have a flat in Stockport. I love Manchester .

Yes i know it quite well but its not the same city it was even fifteen years ago with all the new buildings,like i said my Mum wouldn't recognize it,many changes for the better i must say.

 

[ska invita]

is it still a bank holiday tomorrow?

 

[Argonia]

is it still a bank holiday tomorrow?

Yes!

 

[Smokeandsteam]

Here are some from Birmingham:

 

[mx wcfc]

Reading....



more here....

Reading VE Day in Photos

VE Day (Victory in Europe) was the day that the allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi forces and the end of Hitler's Third Reich. Mayor Newham of Reading formally announced the end of the Second World War at Queen Victoria's statue on Friar Street outside the Town Hall...

www.readingmuseum.org.uk

 

[treelover]

North Manchester

View attachment 211253

raining as usual

 

[Teaboy]

Reading....

View attachment 211291

more here....

Reading VE Day in Photos

VE Day (Victory in Europe) was the day that the allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi forces and the end of Hitler's Third Reich. Mayor Newham of Reading formally announced the end of the Second World War at Queen Victoria's statue on Friar Street outside the Town Hall...

www.readingmuseum.org.uk

Bloody hell. I followed the link and there is actually a photo of the street I used to live on (Wolseley Street though they call it Wolseley Rd in the photos for some reason) its taken from roughly where my old house is. I lived there 2004 - 2010. You can see the corner of the primary school wall.

What strikes me about all the Reading photos is how little it has changed. I reckon a time traveler from that era would be able to recognise the Reading they knew easily.

 

[tim]

Both my parents joined up into the RAF during the war after leaving school. I can remember as a kid my father saying 'You've Had It Chum'. My mother used to tell me that if it hadnt been for the war she' d have been stuck in the mining village she grew up , her only paid job before that was working in a pet shop. My father flew Halifaxs and Lancasters bombing Germany and helped train Americans for day light bombing raids , he had loads of photos. After the war he had a nervous breakdown . Obviously my mum didnt fly planes she used to drive wagons and escort the planes back into hangers, was a chauffer amongst other things. She used to say that the war taught her that women could do the same jobs as men. Always made me laugh when she used to tell me about all the blokes she met and dancing and drinking. Ironically her experience in the war liberated her. They always remembered VE day..

There were British women pilots in non-combat roles.





In the USSR twomen flew bomber raids:

 

[mx wcfc]

Bloody hell. I followed the link and there is actually a photo of the street I used to live on (Wolseley Street though they call it Wolseley Rd in the photos for some reason) its taken from roughly where my old house is. I lived there 2004 - 2010. You can see the corner of the primary school wall.

What strikes me about all the Reading photos is how little it has changed. I reckon a time traveler from that era would be able to recognise the Reading they knew easily.

Agreed - apart from the cars lining the streets these days. I lived in De Beauvoir Road (Cemy Junction) and Catherine Street (Oxford Road) (both pictured) at various times in the mid-80s.

 

[Deadstick 1944]

There were British women pilots in non-combat roles.





In the USSR twomen flew bomber raids:

Great stuff.

 

[Deadstick 1944]

Colouration of photos really does work well for WW1 and 2, this looks so much more contemporary. But I wonder if for loads of folk there were really mixed feelings at the time - I expect most families in Britain had lost atleast 1 family member.

I think sometimes about the families left at home,i remember my Dad telling me he came home on leave just before the allied invasion of Europe,his Brother was already away in the Navy,when it was time to report back my Grandad said to my Dad i will come to the train station with you but my Dad said i will say my goodbye at the house,because he might not see home again,got me thinking how hard that must have been for parents,there were thousands like that.

 

[editor]

Some more ace images

"This is Your Hour" - The Party That Ended All Parties - British VE Day Celebrations - Flashbak

The Daily Telegraph went with “GERMANY CAPITULATES!, followed by ‘To-day is VE Day: “Complete and Crushing Victory”. Of course the other newspapers joined in with celebratory VE Day headlines. After all there was a lot to celebrate. Even The Irish Times managed to join in when the pro-British...

flashbak.com

 

[Roadkill]

My grandpa was a Morse code operator on ships protecting other ships, spent time in Alexandria, Cape of Good Hope, etc. He was torpedoed twice. He started thinking Hitler had it in for him. First time the ship took a while to sink, the second time they had to jump 50 feet into the sea and swim to another ship as his was in a bad state. A mate of his got up and down ladders and made it safely to another vessel before realising he had a broken leg.

My grandpa's take on it all was that the war was absolutely necessary, and absolutely nothing to celebrate.

In that case it's possible that your grandfather and mine met, as my paternal grandgather was also a wireless operator and was based in the Med, mainly at Alexandria, between 1939 and 1942. He kept a diary (the first volume of which, for 1939, is in a German steamship company's corporate diary, which he'd snaffled from a ship they'd arrested), which my uncle refuses to put into a proper archive but did lend to me to take copies a few years ago. I did look into publishing them since they shed a very interesting light on a very much overlooked part of the war, but the market's saturated with such things and I couldn't interest a publisher. Granddad makes pretty clear in the diaries that he didn't enjoy the war, hated the Navy and was forever getting into trouble for one thing or another. By my count he ended up on punishment for insubordination three times in two years. As he says repeatedly, he just wanted to be back in London with his wife, especially when the news came through that one of his brothers had been killed in the Bank tube station bomb. Sadly I never met him, as he died suddenly a year before I was born. I also don't know much about his later war service because he stopped keeping his diary when he was recalled to Britain in 1942, but I believe he was on the Murmansk convoys. A braver man than he considered himself to be, I think.

I never met my maternal grandfather either, since he abandoned his wife and daughters in the 50s and lived for the rest of his life in New Zealand. Illustrating the class divide in my family, whereas my paternal grandfather was a railway porter who joined the RNVR for unknown reasons (I suspect he just thought that if war was likely - which by the time he joined up it was - the Navy was a more attractive place to serve than the army), he was a career naval officer who ended the war commanding a frigate. I have his ceremonial sword, complete with his inititals engraved in the scabbard. One of his middle names was Arbuthnot, which refers to a very distant family connection with a much more famous officer who has been described as 'in a colloquial if not a clinical sense insane.'

 

[BCBlues]

Here are some from Birmingham:

...and The Black Country




The pic on the front of the paper made me smile, "Burn The Brute" Hitler.

 

[Steel Icarus]

In that case it's possible that your grandfather and mine met, as my paternal grandgather was also a wireless operator and was based in the Med, mainly at Alexandria, between 1939 and 1942. He kept a diary (the first volume of which, for 1939, is in a German steamship company's corporate diary, which he'd snaffled from a ship they'd arrested), which my uncle refuses to put into a proper archive but did lend to me to take copies a few years ago. I did look into publishing them since they shed a very interesting light on a very much overlooked part of the war, but the market's saturated with such things and I couldn't interest a publisher. Granddad makes pretty clear in the diaries that he didn't enjoy the war, hated the Navy and was forever getting into trouble for one thing or another. By my count he ended up on punishment for insubordination three times in two years. As he says repeatedly, he just wanted to be back in London with his wife, especially when the news came through that one of his brothers had been killed in the Bank tube station bomb. Sadly I never met him, as he died suddenly a year before I was born. I also don't know much about his later war service because he stopped keeping his diary when he was recalled to Britain in 1942, but I believe he was on the Murmansk convoys. A braver man than he considered himself to be, I think.

I never met my maternal grandfather either, since he abandoned his wife and daughters in the 50s and lived for the rest of his life in New Zealand. Illustrating the class divide in my family, whereas my paternal grandfather was a railway porter who joined the RNVR for unknown reasons (I suspect he just thought that if war was likely - which by the time he joined up it was - the Navy was a more attractive place to serve than the army), he was a career naval officer who ended the war commanding a frigate. I have his ceremonial sword, complete with his inititals engraved in the scabbard. One of his middle names was Arbuthnot, which refers to a very distant family connection with a much more famous officer who has been described as 'in a colloquial if not a clinical sense insane.'

My grandpa wrote his life story towards the end of his life - it's one of my most treasured possessions - so if you're interested I'll photo or scan the war-related bits and pm them to you?

 

[Roadkill]

My grandpa wrote his life story towards the end of his life - it's one of my most treasured possessions - so if you're interested I'll photo or scan the war-related bits and pm them to you?

Yes, I'd definitely be interested. Thanks.

 

[Hollis]

Just listened to an excellent talk online by James Holland on 'Why the allies won' - think it's available if you follow the link on the National Army Museum website..

Why the Allies Won with James Holland - Crowdcast

There's another talk tomorrow 2pm by Jonathan Fennell,

 

[editor]

My young mum is in this VE Day party pic from Cardiff

 

[teqniq]

There were British women pilots in non-combat roles.





In the USSR twomen flew bomber raids:

The ATA were based at Hamble not far from where I originally come from. In the link below there's a pic of the unveiling of a memorial largely bought about by the efforts of my dad (second from left).

https://www.hugofox.com/shared/attachments.asp?f=edb4b154%2D1f58%2D4860%2D9442%2D8a378de3a20b%2Epdf

e2a I've just watched the Spitfire sisters vid and the unveiling ceremony is towards the end of that.

 

[Marty1]

Amazing scenes on my route today - loads of people with picnic tables outside the front of their houses - the terrace streets had the best party vibe with bunting, Union Jack flags, pictures of Churchill, old war time music playing, even heard dads army tune on the go.

 

[brogdale]

Street party still going strong in road next to mine. Social distancing forgotten many drinks ago.
Rona hotspot early/mid-June?

 

[tim]

I was there on the balcony broadcast from our Head of State



That's her third broadcast to the nation in little more than a month. She'll have her own breakfast show by the end of the Summer.

The full George VI speech.



Stalin's

 

[brogdale]

I was there on the balcony broadcast from our Head of State



That's her third broadcast to the nation in little more than a month. She'll have her own breakfast show by the end of the Summer.

The full George VI speech.



Stalin's

wtf's going on with that ear?

Lizard covering slipped?

 

[Kaka Tim]

interesting thread this.
my parents were too young to be in the armed forces - but they both got evacuated. My mum hated it - but my dad liked it cos it got him away from his violent abusive father.
My polish uncle and godfather escaped from poland to france (by plane i think) when the germans invaded. He then escaped from france to the UK in 1940 - by him and his comrades relieving a french mayor of his car at gunpoint. He then joined the RAF and fought in the battle of britain (though not - to my massive childhood disappointment - as a fighter pilot).
Ms kak's grandad was in burma as a medic - he never spoke about it but he suffered PTSD for the rest of his life as a result. I think he was caught in the british retreat up the burma road and they had to leave the wounded behind to die in the jungle.

 

[William of Walworth]

I only had one relative who actually served in the forces in WWII.

This was someone we called "Uncle Alf" -- he wasn't a direct relative of our side of the family, but we often saw him,, and he would occasionally come out with fascinating stories. Mostly humorous ones, but with the exception of this :

He and his battalion (I can't remember which regiment) spent a lot of the early to mid part of the war in North Africa, but later, he was also very much involved in the Northward advance in Italy by Allied forces.

Shortly before the Battle of Monte Cassino, all the planned leave in his battalion (and in all the others) was cancelled, but according to Alf, the CO of his mess-room permitted the men to draw straws -- only five of the straws were the ones permitting leave still to happen.

(Edited to add Wiki link : Battle of Monte Cassino -- it's very detailed and informative)

Alf and four comrades drew winning straws and were allowed (amazingly! ) to be flown back to England.

By the time he got back to Italy, Monte Cassino was long over and well over two thirds of his own battalion had been killed. Monte Cassino was notoriously the most brutal battle of the entire Italian campaign, the last stand of Nazi resistance.

The above piece of astonishing luck affected Uncle Alf for the rest of his life -- his daughter told me (after he died), that survivors' guilt had had a major effect on him