The media has been flooded with histories and, almost unbelievably, some first-hand accounts of that day in May 1945 when the war was finally over after nearly 6 long years. The testimonies suggest that the day began in some confusion, as though the radio broadcasts from the BBC and others had relayed the news that Nazi Germany had surrendered it was not entirely clear what would come next. Churchill’s oration gave certainty to the outcome of the conflict and the church bells ringing confirmed it too but there was not a spontaneous outbreak of euphoria. Relief, certainly, some jubilation but also weariness and an awareness that many were feeling loss of property and of loved ones. The fighting may have been over but the damage, the wounds, would take a long time to heal. I am sure that there will be plenty of local memories which will be documented in the pages of the Salisbury Journal and elsewhere that will echo those emotions.
I feel several steps removed from all of this. My parents were too young to fight in the war; my father took up National Service as the war finished, and though I had two uncles who flew for Bomber Command and the Fleet Air Arm respectively, my Baby Boomer qualification means that World War II is something that I could only really experience through the pages of a history book. As a result I found the testimonies of the 100+ year old veterans both fascinating and deeply moving, a glimpse back into a very different world – but one with concerning echoes for us in here And now. I am sure that those veterans look with great concern at developments in Ukraine, for example; war is yet again threatening Europe, despite all of those warnings from the past.
Here in school there is history to be found. The BWS Annual Record for 1940-1941 (for example) lists around 400 old boys of the school who joined HM Forces. The memorial boards in the school chapel record those who fell in the second war; 26 for the Army, 7 for the Navy and 50 for the RAF, reflecting the very active Air Cadet Unit that was such a strong part of Bishop’s in the pre-war period. Pictures from Founder’s Day 1945 show a Russian Air Force Colonel being greeted by the Dean of Salisbury at the West Door of the Cathedral. The war was over.
A war memorial was commissioned by Headmaster Happold to mark the end of the war, and some of his words from the unveiling ceremony still resonate. “We dwell in the midst of a shattered and unhappy world, full of dangers and difficulties and hardships. But our beloved land is still unconquered, still inviolate; we can still call our souls and bodies our own”. That is still true eight decades after VE Day.
SDS
