VE Day celebrations

Downton celebrated the 80th anniversary of VE Day in style.

Locals gathered for the lighting of the village beacon on the evening of May 8 for a ceremony organised by local fundraiser Malcolm Dean. WW2 Jeeps and a truck added an impressive backdrop to the event. Guests of honour were Commander Douglas Parish RN (Retd), a D-Day veteran who will be 100 soon, and Doreen Bowell aged 95, both residents at Braemar Lodge in Salisbury.  Douglas was aboard HMS Mauritius on D-Day and kept a diary as a young 17 year old - which he shared as part of the  D-Day 80 Anniversary broadcasts last year.  Downton Scouts and Army Cadets were in attendance. Following introductions, a part of Churchill’s ‘Victory in Europe’ speech was played, and then Douglas lit the beacon.  A war-time sing-song was organised by Linda and Mike Sutcliffe.

Afterwards, everyone was encouraged to have a look at the military displays and to meet the veterans if they so wished.

A few youngsters came to say ‘hello’ and to thank Douglas for his service. To one he said, ‘ I was just doing my job, but I hope this event has gone some way to helping you to understand what happened during the war and to remember the great sacrifice given by so many, for you to enjoy today’.

Welly Green was proud to wear her father's RAF  Navigator's uniform jacket to the event.  On VE day in 1945 he would have been wearing it either in a Liberator of Coastal Command over the Atlantic or at his squadron's base in Iceland. Various other parties and celebrations were held across the village and beyond.

Other readers remember what their family members were doing 80 years ago. John Nightingale told us: “My dad got the radio signal on the real VE Day at 8am to cease fire.  As the war ended, he was a radio operator, passing on the command.”  Andrew Moody’s father, who was born and raised in Downton, was in the liberating army which opened Belsen to the world, and was there on May 8 1945.  Andrew says, “He would not celebrate anything and he never once wore the medals he was given.”