Joining the rest of the UK, East Anglia RFCA commemorated the VE Day’s 80th anniversary last Thursday.
On 7 May 1945 the remnants of the Nazi regime formally surrendering to the Allies, ending the Second World War in Europe. Though fighting continued for another three months in the Indo-Pacific, the following day—8 May 1945—Winston Churchill declared a national day of celebration to mark the end of the conflict closer to home.
Eight decades on, the UK came together to mark the occasion both nationally and around the regions. In East Anglia there were dozens of official events in our cities, towns and villages, most significantly for the RFCA an outside broadcast from BBC Suffolk.
Between 0600 and 1000 on 8 May, BBC Radio Suffolk‘s breakfast show came from the Army Reserve Centre in Ipswich. Throughout the morning, presenter Wayne Bavin spoke to armed forces cadets (above), the county’s Army Cadet Force (ACF) commandant and reservists from 158 Regiment Royal Logistics Corps about what VE Day means to them and their involvement with uniformed services.
The 158 Reg RLC Officer Commanding, Maj Steve Hook MBE, discussed the route he took into the Reserve Forces (below), while Cpl Shaquille Goldsmith—a local firefighter when he is not serving as a reservist—explained some of the weaponry and vehicles he and his comrades train and deploy with (top).
Other guests appeared at the Army Reserve Centre too, including a local military historian and local vocal group the Three Chordettes, who treated listeners to live performances of some wartime tunes.
Back at headquarters, employees of the RFCA commemorated VE Day by gathering to observe the national two-minute silence scheduled for 1200. In doing so we joined civil servants across HM Government and millions of other British around the country.
In Clifton, Bedfordshire, our own chief executive, Col Leona Barr-Jones, attended as a Deputy Lord-Lieutenant of the county alongside RAF Henlow‘s Station Warrant Officer Katy Miller and RAF Air Cadets from 2482 Henlow Sqn Air Training Corps.
Col Leona met a Second World War veteran at the Clifton commemoration, 100-year-old Eileen, who had served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (which later became the Women’s Royal Army Corps). They are pictured together below at Clifton’s 80th anniversary commemorative service.
Later in the day, St Edmundsbury Cathedral was the focus for hundreds of East Anglia residents as they attended a special VE Day commemorative service there.
Cadets from different uniformed services around Suffolk joined adults at the event. The county’s ACF was represented by adult volunteers and cadets from A Company (pictured below), as well as their Cadet Regimental Sergeant Major, Jacob West—who had spoken on the radio that morning.
The service included a memorial to the many who gave their lives opposing tyranny, and offers of thanks for the years of peace on the British mainland since the Second World War.
Suffolk ACF expressed its gratitude to the adult volunteers and cadets who represented it so proudly during the VE Day events.
