SIR Keir Starmer has marked the 80th anniversary of VE Day by hailing World War Two veterans for their “greatest victory”.
The PM has penned an open letter to the last of the generation on the day millions take to the nation’s streets to mark Victory in Europe Day.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has marked the 80th anniversary of VE Day by hailing World War Two veterans
D-Day veteran Alan Kennett, 100, of Lichfield, Staffs, will be carrying the Torch for Peace
The Labour leader writes: “This week we celebrate the greatest victory our Armed Forces ever secured . . . a victory for good against the assembled forces of hatred, tyranny and evil.
“VE Day is a chance to acknowledge, again, that our debt to those who achieved it can never fully be repaid.”
Thousands of street parties are taking place to honour the war generation.
Up to 20,000 are expected at the Royal British Legion-arranged VE Fest 80 in Blackburn.
In London’s Docklands — a target for sustained bombing in the Blitz — the Bengali community is organising an event.
Thirty war veterans, aged from 98 to 104, will take tea with King Charles and Queen Camilla at Buckingham Palace.
Among them will be Joyce Wilding, 100, who was in a covert resistance force, and Ruth Bourne, 98, who helped decrypt Nazi messages at Bletchley Park.
Both were among the VE Day crowds in London in 1945.
Before the party, 1,300 service personnel, including Ukrainian fighters and troops from 11 Nato nations, will parade from Parliament Square to the Palace.
D-Day veteran Alan Kennett, 100, of Lichfield, Staffs, will be carrying the Torch for Peace.
Sir Keir Starmer’s open letter in full
To our veterans,
As we approach the VE Day anniversary, I want to salute your ongoing dedication to keeping our country safe.
This week, we celebrate the greatest victory our armed forces ever secured.
And like so many families across the country, my relatives served and fought in the Second World War.
Therefore, it is the highest honour of my role to meet veterans of that conflict.
I think of people like Stanley Fisher and Mervyn Kersch, two Jewish veterans of the Normandy landings, who went on to become eyewitnesses to the horrors of the Bergen Belsen concentration camp in the early days of its liberation by British forces.
Their stories – and countless others we will hear this week – are a reminder that our victory was not just for Britain.
It was also a victory for good against the assembled forces of hatred, tyranny and evil.
VE Day is a chance to acknowledge, again, that our debt to those who achieved it can never fully be repaid.
Yet as the nation falls silent on Thursday, I know that my mind will also turn to those who carry the torch of their legacy in our armed forces today – people like you.
As time marches on, we all have a responsibility to renew the bonds of our history so that future generations inherit our national story as their own.
But alongside our history and our values, service is the other great force that binds a nation together.
So this week, I want you to know: the whole nation is inspired by the selfless dedication of your example.
It is not just that you keep us all safe. It is also that you represent the best of who we are.
A living link of service that unites the values we must stand for in the present, with the stories we must pass down from our past.
Furthermore, I know that this is not without sacrifice.
I will always remember the conversation I had with a sub-mariner in Faslane, who brought home exactly what over 200 days a year underwater means for the simple things most families take for granted.
Missing birthdays, weddings, anniversaries.
Not being there in the photographs. From the Carrier Strike Group at sea, to our postings in Estonia, Cyprus and here in the UK, every service man and woman I have met has had a version of this story.
And I recognise that this too is a debt that can never fully be repaid.
But this week, the country will show you just how thankful we all are.
Because we know, that without your service, the freedom, peace and joy that these celebrations embody, would not be possible.
So, wherever you are, wherever you serve, have a wonderful VE Day.
And on behalf of a proud and grateful nation: thank you for your service.
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