VE Day 80th anniversary services held in Bradford
A number of events and services took place as part of wider efforts to celebrate, commemorate and reflect the events of 8 May 1945.
A special service was held at 11:00 BST at the Bradford War Memorial in the city centre, with Lord Mayor Councillor Beverley Mullaney hosting a multi-faith service led by Bradford Cathedral.
Services were also held in Keighley, Ilkley, Wibsey, East Morton and Shipley, while Bingley's commemorations are due to take place on Saturday.
At the Bradford War Memorial service, which was attended by about 150 people, the Lord Mayor said: "The sacrifices made are enabling all of us who are here today to live our lives freely - and for that we should always remember.
"It is important we take this opportunity to remember those sacrifices, as well as the resilience of those who have gone before us."
She said her grandfather, Joseph Platt, had fought and was injured in World War Two: "He went off and he came back minus a leg, in a wheelchair. My other grandad, he was off serving too.
"And then there were the family members who were shipped away when the war was on. They had to go and live with other families out of Bradford until the war ended.
"I think we should learn from history. Peace is what we all need at the moment around the world, not just here in England but everywhere around the world."
The Reverend Canon Ned Dunn, Bradford Cathedral's canon for inter-cultural mission and the arts, led the multi-faith service, which was attended by representatives from the Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Sikh and Hindu faiths.
He said: "Remembrance is always a time not just to look back to remember and to honour those who fell in previous conflicts, but also to make recommitments to the people, the citizens of where you live - commitments to fellow human beings to the pursuit of peace."
The Reverend Canon Dunn also referred to current conflicts across the globe, "particularly Kashmir and particularly in the Middle East - these are not just headlines, this is not just another conflict for the people of Bradford, these are personal".
"These are family members, friends, ancestral homes, which again are continually returning to uncertainty, fear and violence," he said.
VE Day events were also held in a number of other places across the Bradford district including Keighley, Ilkley, and Wibsey.
Meanwhile, an exhibition opened at the East Morton War Memorial Institute which runs until Sunday, looking at local soldiers who served in the war, with a commemoration event planned for Saturday.
Several other VE events are also due to take place in Bingley on Saturday.
Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Listen to Plymouth Argyle weekend review
All today's news and views on the Pilgrims in two minutes. This update has been created and reviewed by our journalists, using AI to help summarise the most up-to-date Plymouth Argyle news. It's read aloud by an AI voice. Listen on BBC Sounds
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
'VJ Day wasn't of any great consequence to us'
A 100-year-old World War Two veteran said VJ Day did not seem to be of any "great consequence" at the time, even though he was serving in the Pacific. Richard Clegg, from Bozeat, near Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, was on board HMS Victorious on 15 August 1945 when Japan surrendered. Events to mark the 80th anniversary were held on Friday and over the weekend across the UK. Mr Clegg said the events were "for people who weren't there to remember it. People who were there I don't think make a fuss about it really". Victory over Japan Day commemorates the Japanese surrender that brought the war to a complete end. Mr Clegg said that 80 years ago, HMS Victorious was "delivering a load of American planes into the middle of the American Pacific Fleet". He told BBC Radio Northampton's Annabel Amos they "got halfway there to our destination" when they were stopped. 'No communication' "We didn't know what had happened, and the next day they then told us that the first atom bomb had been dropped [on Hiroshima], and then... three days later they dropped the second atom bomb [on Nagasaki] so they then said the fleet will disperse," Mr Clegg said. The bombs killed more than 200,000 people – some from the immediate blast and others from radiation sickness and burns – and led to Japan's surrender. Mr Clegg said HMS Victorious sailed to Brisbane and was then used to take Japanese prisoners of war home or to hospital. "[VJ Day] wasn't of any great consequence to us at the time because we were never directly involved with fighting the actual Japanese people," he said. The veteran also said VE Day – marking Victory in Europe – which happened earlier in the year, in May, was not celebrated in the Pacific because it "wasn't possible – there was no communication". The centenarian is the last of his friends from the services still alive, and he put his longevity down to "good fortune". He added: "I've always kept fit. You just learnt to look after yourself when you are in the navy." Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. Related stories 80th VJ Day service is poignant moment for veteran VJ Day explained in 60 seconds Related internet links Royal Navy
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
How a 'moth-eaten rag' became a war memorial
A small coastal town is home to an unusual World War Two war memorial created by soldiers in memory of comrades who died while prisoners of war (POW). It was made by men from the 4th Battalion, The Suffolk Regiment, who were captured at the fall of Singapore in 1942. They spent more than three years as slave labourers for the Japanese army, much of it at Chungkai camp in Thailand. The centrepiece of the memorial in Leiston, Suffolk, is a union jack, used in the camp during funeral services and brought home by Corp Herbie Bailey after he and the other survivors were finally liberated. In 1952, the veterans transformed the "moth-eaten rag" into a tribute to the POWs of the 4th Battalion who died and to mark the 10th anniversary of their capture. "Sometimes people just refer to it as a flag, but it's not just a flag - the flag is just the centrepiece of a very, very interesting and unusual war memorial," said Taff Gillingham, chairman of the Friends of the Suffolk Regiment. In 1942, the 4th Battalion was among many Allied divisions rushed to defend Singapore, in the wake of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbour. After fierce fighting but against impossible odds, the British, Australian and Indian forces were ordered to surrender. Somehow the 11ft by 6ft (3.3m by 1.8m) flag went with the men of the 4th Battalion when they were transferred to Chungkai camp, said Mr Gillingham. This was a POW camp used during the construction of the infamous Burma-Thailand Railway, and today it is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery. About 13,000 Allied prisoners of war died during the railway project, plus an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians, according to the commission. Mr Gillingham said the 4th and 5th battalions of the Suffolk Regiment were about 2,000 strong when they disembarked at Singapore in 1942, but more than a third of them had died by the end of the war. The POWs were allowed to build a little wooden chapel at Chungkai for church services, where the flag rested on its altar. "And every time one of the soldiers died, it was used for the funeral service," Mr Gillingham said. "Starved, beaten and executed for the slightest misdemeanours - the thing that inspires me is their resilience and their ingenuity, making medicines from plants that they'd find in the jungle, for example." Every aspect of the memorial has a specific link to the 4th Battalion, a territorial unit which recruited from the Leiston area. Mr Gillingham said: "The frame is just as interesting [as the flag], in that it's made from wood salvaged from Southwold Pier and the metal frame it sits on was made by the engineering works of Garretts, the engineering works in Leiston, so it was a proper local project. "And the colours behind the flag mean something too - they are the colours of the Pacific Star, the medal that all the Far East prisoners of war were given." Today, it is owned by the Friends of the Suffolk Regiment and is on long-term loan to the town's Long Shop Museum. When the men of the 4th Battalion were liberated at the end of the war, many, including Corp Bailey, continued to serve in the territorials for years, with weekly training and annual camps. Underneath the memorial is a plaque which describes it as "a moth-eaten rag on a worm-eaten pole". It also records how the union jack was "hoisted to the top of the pole in the camp by the men of the battalion who survived three years of living hell". Mr Gillingham said: "It's often said to be the only war memorial based on an artefact brought back from the field, and it's certainly the only one I can think of, but it's a lovely thing because it has a direct connection with the place, and the people, with those who died." A service to mark the 80th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day and the end of World War Two will be held at the memorial at 10:30 BST. Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. More on this story 'Death railway' soldiers honoured with exhibition Film to tell regiment's 'poignant' war battles 'VE celebrations muted due to Far East prisoners' Related internet links The Long Shop Museum, Leiston Friends of the Suffolk Regiment
