Today is the 74th anniversary of Victory In Europe Day. It marks the time of the surrender of Nazi Germany and an end to this ideology’s reign of terror, a terror that ruined an entire continent.
On this day we should remember those who gave their lives to free Europe from the tyranny of Nazism, those who suffered life changing physical injuries and those who were never again the same mentally after World War II ended. We should give thanks for the freedom that we enjoy which these brave men and many women bought for us and in the words of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill allow ourselves a ‘brief moment of rejoicing’.
I am alive and my child is alive today because other people, most of those I never knew or was able to know, nearly three quarters of a century ago, fought bravely and sometimes against appalling odds against tyranny. I can’t even begin to think how to pay back such a debt, but I can make a start by remembering a generation’s bravery and sacrifice and telling my child that he is here and safe because of other’s selflessness and dedication to duty.
