On Thursday 8th May 2025 the members of Abergele Stroke Club gathered to Commemorate/Celebrate the 80th Anniversaries of both Victory in Europe and the later Victory in Japan Day. The members had personal time to reflect and give thanks to those who paid the ultimate price that has allowed us, previous and future generations to hold these commemorations.
Estimates of Worldwide Casualties of the Second World War vary but the following are often quoted.
Battle Deaths: 15,000,000
Battle Wounded: 25,000,000
Civilian Deaths: 45,000,000
The following are some Memories of VE Day as penned by Sheila Hancock in The Guardian News Paper on 3rd May 2025.
Yes, in 1945 we were relieved that the bombs and doodlebugs and rocket weapons had stopped, and we heard there was fun going on in the West End of London – but where I lived it was less jubilant. The war there felt far from over: we were still waiting anxiously for the return of the young lad next door from the rumoured horror of a Japanese prisoner of war camp, and many of my friends were trying to accept as fathers’ strange men they barely knew. The unspeakable details of the Holocaust were being revealed, and I imagine the grownups were utterly exhausted and often grief-stricken.
Now, our beautiful planet is under threat in many ways. History shows that the solution is definitely not to be found in autocratic leadership. Let us aim to unite the available worldwide wisdom to tackle the global crises together. Time is running out.
I look back with some pride at the way that generation of adults survived, drained but determined to make the world a better place. And they did.
Please God, don’t let us betray them. We must not forget, and we must never let it happen again.
This final sentence reminded me of the Final Thoughts of Denys Jones as written in his book "A Soldiers Memories (after 60 years)".
"Whenever the opportunity presented itself I asked German civilians why they had turned a blind eye to all the atrocities of war and particularly the horrors of the concentration camps under the regime of the third Reich. They all said without exception that they had no idea of the extent of the extermination of the Jews, and I suppose the full horrors were not realised until the Russians liberated the camps. They seemed to be aware that medical experiments were taking place in the interests of the advancement of science but not that death was the inevitable result for all those involved. The Germans were afraid to a man of the Gestapo and had to be careful of what they said and did at all times".
Let us be aware in these uncertain times of the dangers of Censorship and Misinformation
