VE Day + 75

Our family mementoes of VE day are sparse, as I imagine they are for most people, unless they were involved in street parties or other public events. Although my mother sometimes kept a diary, and I have them for 1944 and 1946, I do not have one for 1945; she would have been teaching on the Wirral. My father made diary entries throughout the war, though mostly they were rather terse unless he was travelling, on leave, and for many days there is no record. In May 1945 he was at Tura, south of Cairo, where he had been based since 1941. Diary entries around the big day include:

Friday 4 May : to Heliopolis, then back to Cairo. Heard choir at St. Andrew’s.

Tuesday 8 May : V Day 1

Wednesday 9 May : V Day 2. Duty. Letter from [my mother].

Thursday 10 May : Saqqara – not a bad trip.

Friday 11 May : Cairo and Heliopolis. Saw “A song to remember” at the Diana cinema.

I’m unable to locate any photographs of these events, but this is the programme for the choral performance on 4th May:

 

The “J. Alfred Paulden” on the programme, otherwise known as Alf, came from Manchester and was my dad’s closest wartime buddy. They remained in contact for the rest of their lives. On the 9th May some kind of dance was arranged, with a programme as follows, including a few characteristic sketches doodled upon it by my father:

So it sounds as though the celebrations might have carried on over a couple of days, and that – perhaps in expectation of imminent repatriation - my dad was sightseeing whenever possible. Saqqara is the site of the famous step pyramid, which he had visited before. However, it wasn’t until early August that he began the journey home, across the Mediterranean on the “Ascania” from Alexandria to Toulon, and then by train to Dieppe.

When he eventually arrived back in England after four years away, aboard the “Isle of Thanet”, docking at Newhaven at around  2 pm on Thursday, 23rd August, he and his fellow  troops were pelted with stones by kids on the pier.  

Plus 75. Plus ça change.