With the newspapers last week recalling the death of Hitler 70 years ago, it called to my mind VE day.
I was very young but can remember going into the town with my Mother. I was given a small gold (brass) "V" brooch which I kept for years afterwards and someone was also giving out hats made of card. They were red, white and blue and shaped like the ones that the soldiers wore. When you got them they were flat, but you could open them out so as to wear them. The top was cut in a crisscross kind of basket weave so that it stretched without tearing. Very difficult to describe, but I was wondering if anyone else remembered these. It may have been just the town I was living in as it was one of the most important Army bases in WWII and full of American/Canadian troops, so maybe they were the ones giving them out?
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Nikkers
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I'm pleased that someone else remembers them Mandy. To be honest, I didn't think you were as ancient as me? lol No, I don't still have the badge. I did a "runner" many years ago and to this day regret everything I had to leave behind - photo's, certificates, schoolgirl diaries and the like. What I'd give to have them now? XX
you could buy those hats at the seaside im not old enough to remember it...
I was only talking to my children the other day about things i had when i was younger that i would love to still have one of them being a 5ft poster of Elvis Presley that i got from the newspaper ..it would be worth a bomb now.
As for diaries i never did understand them they just got you in trouble x x
If you're an Elvis fan Mandy, I'll make you jealous.......His Daughter Lisa, husband and children live not far from me ! You can't get much closer to him than that. LOL
Hi knikkers,just to say like you I was very very young wh e n the war ended but I remember going to Trafalgar Square and loosing my mum in the crowd.But a young American sailor bless him rescued me and somehow got me back to mum,I am a bit hazy on that part.We used to sleep on the platform of the Aldwych underground station in the Strand every night and got bombed out in the Blitzt.The rockets used to terrify me as they made a terrible noise then went silent then BOOM.Loads of funny memorys to but just bits of them . mags x
I know what you mean Mags. We stayed with an Aunt in Woolwich sometimes and as the train pulled into London, I can remember the excitement I felt at seeing all the "bubbles" as I called them....barrage balloons is what they really were. lol
Nikkers I also was very young but have a photo somewhere of the VE street party and little me is wearing that hat like all the other children, strange at that time I have blonde hair as well. xxx Fred
What an incredible memory to have. I don't think there can possibly have been anything since, to remotely compared to the sheer joy and jubilation of that night!
My late mother used to reminisce about the war. She actually enjoyed some parts of it.
She was a nurse and lived next to an RAF station. There were lots of parties and dancing. I think it was a time of huge contrasts, intense sadness when friends didn't return, then extreme joy when others survived.
A lady I knew, said she found the war horrific and terrifying, as she lived in London. I can't begin to imagine how terrifying the bombing was. Let alone those awful doodlebugs.
Yes Fred I have pics of our Street party as well.I have got a red hat on and a really silly grin.I also remember when our queen got married.I sat on top of a coal lorry with my friends and saw her as they came out of the Abbey.What a shame we didnt havr these wonderful camera phones :-)We had good times and bad.I remember on the platform in the underground you couldnt put a pin between the people,so many.With their bl a nkets ,even pillows,and thetmos flasks and there was always a sing song.yes the barage ballons and the seachlights.Where I lived was a target as it was in the East End by the docks.We had a huge park in Kennington and that was tunnelled to make a shelter.It held 15hundred people.one night during the Blitz it was bombed and the whole thing caved in I think only a handful survived.They filled it in and made it a mass grave.It was so sad.I had never seen a banana th e n one day a couple of American saiors came along our street and g a ve us kids one each and I remember trying to eat it with the skin on and spiting it out and the sailor with tears in his eyes showing me how to peel it.Wonder men and women.They were so good to us children. love mags x
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