102-year-old Darlington veteran on memories of VE Day and poignant message for future

Yahoo

08-05-2025

Sat in his chair in his room at Darlington Manor Residential Home, with a VE Day pin badge on his quarter-zip top, is 102-year-old Kenneth Johnson. Kenneth's story is an unbelievable one. He was in London for the declaration of victory in Europe, now known as VE Day. I arrive as Kenneth is being fussed over by nurses, with the staff at the residential home making sure he has everything he needs and looks his best. He says he doesn't like the fuss, but the look on his face says otherwise.
I introduce myself, to which I get the reply: 'I have got a grandson called Adam'. I make a silly joke about what a great name it is. Ken laughs, before the nurses leave the two of us to our chat. The information and stories I hear over the next 40 minutes were astounding and poignant.
We begin our chat about his memories of VE Day, as he was in London when victory over the Nazi's was declared. I barely finish asking the question before Ken jumps in and says: 'Oh, it was absolute chaos. The streets were full of people marching and dancing, people were climbing up lampposts. It was absolutely heaving; it was like a party!'
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The veteran was a flight mechanic for the Royal Air Force (RAF) and was stationed down south in Amesbury, near Salisbury. He and a group of friends made the trip to London after victory in Europe was declared. But Ken recalls that he did not know how he and his friends got to London, or how they got back. 'Because we were marching along the streets, we didn't know where we were. I had never been to London before, and it was absolutely crowded. Everywhere you went there were crowds of people. Then it came to the evening and needing to get some sleep.
'We had nowhere to stay, as you only got about a shilling a day. It came to bedtime, and we were looking for somewhere to kip down. There were people laying all over the place. We found this building and you went through a door in the side, down some stairs'. Ken gestures with his hand just how far down he and his friends went. 'Down and down, it just kept going', he continues.
Kenneth pictured in his RAF uniform with his wife (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)
'I thought it was never going to end, it was almost like a cave. There were three-tier beds all over the place, and, do you know, I can't ever remember paying for it! We were that far underground that we could hear the underground trains going over our heads.'
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I'll confess now, I am a massive history buff. I completed an undergraduate degree in English Literature and History, and in my final year did a module on France in the Second World War. The module included learning about what life was like for people in the country under Nazi-occupation and reading about the locals' stories. So, I was utterly engrossed in Ken's story that I nearly forgot to ask the next question.
'Why did you join the RAF?'
The veteran explained how he and his friends were 'young and stupid', but they wanted to join up and enlist in the armed forces. He laughs as he recalls: 'When the war broke out, you either got in the Army, the Navy or the Royal Air Force, but nobody really wanted to be in the Army!'
Initially, the grandad was too young to join the RAF, so his name was put on a reserve list for when he turned 18. When that time came, he made his way to the recruiting office in Darlington, where he was then told he needed to go to the recruiting office in Middlesbrough. On arrival in Middlesbrough, he was met by an officer in RAF uniform who asked Ken what he wanted to do. When Ken replied 'pilot', he smiles as he recalls what the recruiting officer responded. 'After I told him I wanted to be a pilot, he said 'Oh God, not another one. Everybody wants to be pilots'.
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'He asked me what I would like to do if I had the choice, and I replied that I wanted to be a mechanic. And then the chap in the uniform suggested being a flight mechanic. It sounded exciting.'
Kenneth's RAF service book (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)
Throughout his service with the RAF, Ken saw much of the United Kingdom. He was first sent to Padgate with all the other new sign-ups, before he went to Blackpool where he learnt how to march. The veteran remembers: 'We marched up and down the promenade for about six weeks, and we even got some people watching sometimes.'
From there it was a move to Squires Gate in Blackpool, where Ken trained to be a flight mechanic. He jokes: 'A lot of us did not have a clue what to do, so we did many classes'. After completing his classes, Ken was stationed to Boscombe Down, near Amesbury.
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It was there that Ken was part of a squadron that serviced aircrafts such as the Lancaster Bomber, Mosquito and Spitfire. He adds: 'The planes weren't going out to fight in the war. The pilots that were there were pilots who had been in the war, done their duty and come back to the squadron. They were testing the airplanes. I kept hoping I would get posted because being a young lad, you want a bit of excitement, but it wasn't like that at all.'
Ken tells me how he wanted to be a pilot in the Second World War and take to the skies on his flights, but he jokes: 'I never even got to fly the planes and that's all I wanted to do!'
However, Ken was lucky enough to still go up in a variety of planes. He says: 'When you had been working on the engines, you had to service them, so they were ready to fly at any time. Sometimes, if you got the opportunity, the pilots would say 'go and get a parachute and come with us'. Every so often you had a chance to fly as a passenger in the aircraft, just to experience it.
'I flew all over the south coast, but only once did I get hold of an aircraft.
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He tells me how he joined a pilot on a flyover, and after the pilot completed the flyover he turned to Ken and said: 'Right, now take hold of the aircraft'. Ken recreates his reaction he had when the pilot told him he would be flying the plane. He has a shocked look on his face, points at himself and says 'me?' Ken continues: 'The pilot told me to keep it straight. You were also not meant to smoke in the aircraft, but the pilot lit up a cigar. He was sat in the back smoking whilst I had control of the plane.'
When Ken still lived at home on his own, he was finally able to get in the cockpit and pilot planes all over the world. 'When I lived at home, in the last ten years, I had a computer, and I could fly on it. You put these discs in the computer, and I bought the joysticks, and you could fly anywhere. It was very realistic. I would fly down to the coast and back, and all the places round here.'
As well as seeing the planes fly over London to celebrate VE Day 80 years ago, Ken has also been fortunate enough to experience two other flyovers for his birthdays, although he did somehow manage to miss both.
Kenneth also shared a poignant message for the future (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)
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He laughs as he tells me: 'A man from the RAF came to see me on my hundredth birthday and arranged for a Lancaster Bomber to fly over my house. I had lots of people round, some were in the garden, but I missed it.
'This last birthday, they sent an aircraft flying over the park near the home, and it had a banner behind it which read 'Happy birthday, Ken'. I missed that one too! They all told me about it though. I was sat in the lounge, and we were all sat round and someone said: 'Look there's the plane'. So, they saw it, I didn't, but they did fly over the park. The RAF have been absolutely brilliant with me.'
Ahead of VE Day however, Ken gives a poignant and important message about what the day means for him. He says: 'VE Day should show all the important things that people did back then. VE Day should be a celebration, shouldn't it? But an old man like me doesn't see it like that. It's lovely that we haven't had a war, but the development that I have seen since VE Day, it has got worse, not better. Celebrations are meant to be a happy time, but I don't see it as a happy time. I think of all the people who lost their lives during the war. We should be celebrating that we have not been at war for 80 years.'
He admits he is also worried about the future of the world. He adds: 'I am frightened. My sight isn't great anymore, but I can see the world is getting worse, not better. From what my daughter tells me about Trump; we might end up having another war. It only needs one of them to do something stupid and then the whole world could be changed.'
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Once those 40 minutes come to an end, and I say goodbye to an extraordinary man, I come away having learnt so much. I learnt what it was like to be in London for VE Day, essentially being transported to London in 1945 through Ken's description. But I also learnt how someone from Ken's generation views VE Day, perhaps differently from you and me.
I will be forever grateful to Ken for allowing me to chat and learn so much from him, and will remember the day for many years to come. A huge thank you also needs to go to everyone at Darlington Manor Residential Home for allowing me in to interview Ken.
I could have sat and listened to him for hours.