VE/ VJ DAY 80

VE/VJ Day 80 - Remembering Those Who Stayed and Those Who Served

Reflections of a child during wartime 1939 - 1945

joyce Joyce Wetton, (89), recounts her childhood memories of wartime in the East-end of London, pays tribute to her parents and gives thanks for the life she has been afforded on account of their bravery.

"There but for the grace of God go I"

I was born in Dalston on 16 October 1935.

When I was 2 years old, we moved to Old Street, City Road, EC1.

It was here that our world was turned upside down with the outbreak of the Second World War

A Father's Service, A Child's Sacrifice

My father was called up and served with the Royal Army Medical Corps for the duration of the war and, like so many children, I didn't see him for a long time.

The London Blitz meant that I was evacuated to Wiltshire.

I was 4 years old and lucky in that my mother was allowed to travel with me.

It was an unhappy time as the lady of the house did not like children.

I did start school there and we stayed for 3 years before my mother decided that we should return to City Road. She felt dodging bombs was preferable to being treated cruelly by the host.

Life Under the Bombs

The next 3 years were spent in Sutton dwellings running in and out of shelters with pillows and blankets tucked under our arms.

Doodlebugs* flew above us. It was terrifying to hear the distinctive buzz.

I remember crouching in our passage praying that the bomb would not drop on us.

When the underground was opened to provide shelter, we tried sleeping in Old Street tube station at night.

Not very quiet.

We returned to the shelter of the buildings where we lived.

There were many near misses and many sleepless nights.

I donned my Mickey Mouse face mask.

That awful smell has never left me.

Sleep was constantly disturbed as we clambered in and out of our beds - often 4 times each night.

A Father's Silent Burden

Throughout the war years, my dad always carried my photo in his wallet. This photograph ended up in Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp when it was liberated and my dad was tasked with feeding the starving prisoners who had been incarcerated there.

A quiet man, he never spoke of the scenes he witnessed.**

There but for the grace of God, my life was spared and I'm writing this today to share part of my life with you.

Thank you for sharing this part of your life with us, Joyce, in your 90th year.

Another party in the planning.

Reflections on Victory and Remembrance

Eight decades later, emotions surrounding VE Day (8th May 1945) and VJ Day (15 August 1945) remain complex. These dates marked the end of the most devastating conflict in human history. They represented victory and the continuation of man's journey towards understanding the cost of freedom.

For children like Joyce, the war years shaped an entire generation's understanding of resilience, sacrifice, and how precious life is. Her father's service in the Royal Army Medical Corps took him from caring for his own family to tending the most broken victims of humanity's darkest chapter. Her mother's courage in choosing to face London's bombs rather than see her child mistreated speaks to the fierce protection that defined the homefront.

Victory was won on distant battlefields and in daily acts of courage by ordinary people. A four-year-old child adapting to evacuation, a mother making impossible choices, a father carrying his daughter's photograph through the liberation of hell itself.

Today, as Joyce prepares to celebrate her 90th birthday, her words echo across the generations:

"There but for the grace of God go I."

It is a reminder that our freedom rests not only on the shoulders of those who fought and died, but also on those who endured, who survived, and who chose to tell their stories so that we might never forget. In remembering Joyce's childhood, we honour all who have contributed to the freedom we enjoy today. Celebrated heroes and countless children, mothers, fathers, and families who faced the unthinkable with quiet courage.

Their legacy is our liberty.

Their story is our inheritance.

Lest We Forget.

Historical Context

*V1 flying bombs were pilotless, winged missiles. Nicknamed 'doodlebugs' or 'buzz bombs' due to the distinctive sound they made in flight, they were a terror weapon causing significant damage and civilian casualties in England and other parts of Europe.

**British forces liberated Bergen-Belsen on 15 April 1945. Thousands of bodies lay unburied around the camp, and some 60,000 starving and mortally ill people were packed together without food, water, or basic sanitation. For many survivors, the process of recovery and repatriation continued long after the end of the war. Over 14,000 prisoners would die after liberation.

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