To not want to 'celebrate' VE

Hopefully not to be insensitive, but is that not also tinged with a great sadness, thinking of all the Jewish people who suffered and died, and have done in many places since?

Of course, I’m saying it would also be tinged with great sadness for us also, as humans.

I see it as celebrating that good triumphed over evil. War is awful so bringing it to an end and saving lives that would otherwise be lost can only be something to celebrate.

Of course. Celebrate the end of the war on our immediate doorstep and bombing if our country absolutely.

80 years later? Commemorate it.

Its a pretty happy day for me, when I think of the indescribable relief Jewish (and other persecuted people) must have felt on that day.

Oh stop, for goodness sake.

Thank you for this comment - I completely agree. Have just been torn apart on Gransnet for expressing this exact sentiment!!!!!

My Dad sailed on the North Atlantic convoys to Russia - so freezingly cold and dangerous with the German U-boats patrolling. He was totally opposed to the glorification of war (and the Royal family)!!!! I haven't watched the tv today but have been remembering my lovely Dad - coincidentally it's his birthday today.

We should be looking forward, for the sake of our young people, not back.

Sigh. 🤷‍♀️🙄

My issue is that all the coverage was mainly about the Royals and that tart Camilla .

Would of been good to see some actual footage of VE Day, more of the veterans and events around the Country

VE Day - bit of mild jingoism and some prime virtue signalling thrown in. What's not to love ...

I dunno, I think you'd have been celebrating if we'd lived then.

I get exceedingly tired of all the flag waving and let's all have a jolly cuppa sitting in the underground to keep safe from the nazis. It was a dreadful war. Horrid things happened. Let's not try to do it all again. And again.

Meanwhile where I live the same people who are shouting at the council for overspending are also shouting that the council hasn't forked out for a big VE party. And then shout that the council is stupidly spending money to commemorate veterans who were based in our area but who happen to be from India originally.

I'm guessing red peach is going to condemn OP participating in Christmas or Easter

Before the declaration of war there were years and years of negotiation, treaties, diplomacy, and appeasement. UK didn't suddenly spit the dummy, European countries inc. UK tried various ways to avoid war and especially to avoid the horrible mess WWI was.

What else other than military intervention was there left with such a people who'd chosen that regime?

I'm of an age where members of my family fought and some died in that war so it's hard to see your point. I do understand why you'd expect people to try to sort it out first but they did, to a point where JFK wrote a book accusing the UK of being asleep called While Britain Slept. Was JFK right? I'm not sure, but there were many attempts at peace and a huge amount of reluctance to jump into a war to the point where it nearly worked for the Axis powers.

For that you are unreasonable IMO

YANBU I was saying similar earlier.

I think it's time to end the fuss over ww1/2. I'm not saying I do have compassion for the men and their families, but how long is it so going to go on for? Lest we forget? Maybe we should be picking many of the other wars that have happened since 🤔 I find do much of it very distasteful.

Edited for putting my ideas the wrong way round! 🤦🏻‍♀️

I think celebrating 80 years of peace between us and our nearest neighbours is fine.

Thank you for this perfectly expressed sentiment. It’s exactly where I am at.

I am sure many if not all of those who were part of British and Commonwealth forces and their allies would say that they were on the side of freedom. Which includes the freedom not to commemorate VE Day if you don't wish to.

I agree, VE day was never celebrated in my family because one relative never came home and another had a traumatic time as a POW, so while obviously everyone was glad the war was over its never felt like a time to start hanging the flags out and having a party.

When did that happen? Never heard that said. Remembrance Sunday/Day here always.

I agree. I think commemoration is fine, but celebrating implies some sort of a jamboree, which feels inappropriate to me too.

VE Day itself was simply the end of the war in Europe. Fighting was still going on in the far east for several months until VJ Day on 14th August of the same year.

I prefer the term commemoration personally. It seems more appropriate because so many people (especially young men) died on all sides.

Oh yes! @Ramblethroughthebrambles your sanctimonious, judgy self righteous rambling will totally tell them!! 'Military intervention' shows you know sod all about what ww2 was all about and the horrific experiences people had. Do you think we shouldn't have 'intervened' in the death camps?...

I completely agree but it feels like something that can’t be easily expressed without being criticised as being ‘anti-British’ or unpatriotic. I think this country has quite an unhealthy obsession with WW2 and the insistence on celebrating (rather than commemorating) a victory that was 80 years ago, rather than worrying about current conflicts and the rise of facism now.

I think commemoration is a better word to describe it.

Yes, they were extremely evil forces that were defeated and that is worthy of celebration. But many people died to bring that about.

We also live in a world where evil is on the rise again, and in many places never went away.

We understand now that in order to defeat the evil of the Nazis, we had to ally with an equal evil in the USSR. And their successors in russia today are as evil as ever the Nazis were, and are celebrating VE Day too. Personally I have no desire to give any impression of celebrating with those monsters in the Kremlin so personally I’ll stick to commemorating.

I think part of it up until now has also been about thanking the veterans with a bit of fanfare. This is likely to be the last major milestone anniversary with an appreciable number of veterans still living and then it will most likely transition to a commemoration that's more sombre.

I totally agree with you OP, anything that glorifies war makes me very uncomfortable. My DD will have to take part in something at school but I don't feel able to say I disagree because it's not acceptable to not take part, same with remembrance Sunday.