Two-minute silence will mark 80 years since VE Day - as Britons prepare to celebrate with pubs and bars allowed to stay open longer
A national two-minute silence will be held to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day, the Government has announced.
Government buildings and departments will remember and thank those who fought with a silence at 12 noon next Thursday, May 8.
Other organisations are invited to follow suit, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said.
VE Day commemorations will start on the May bank holiday on Monday May 5.
The Cenotaph will be dressed in Union flags and there will be a military procession from Whitehall to Buckingham Palace and an RAF flypast over London.
On May 8 - exactly 80 years since the end of the Second World War in Europe - there will be a party at Horse Guards Parade shown live on BBC One.
Pubs and bars have been granted permission to stay open for longer to mark the anniversary.
Venues in England and Wales which usually close at 11pm will be able to keep serving for an extra two hours to celebrate.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has encouraged the public to get involved, saying the planned celebrations are a 'chance for us to come together and celebrate our veterans and ensure their legacy of peace is passed on to future generations'.
The number of military veterans who fought in the war continues to dwindle as time advances.
One of them, 99-year-old RAF veteran Dennis Bishop, said he will be remembering friends 'who didn't make it like I did'.
The former leading aircraftsman, who saw active service in France, Belgium, Germany and Africa, visited RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Wednesday as it prepares for the VE Day flypast on Monday.
Mr Bishop was presented with gifts by the crew of an Airbus A400M Atlas military transport aircraft - one of several contemporary aircraft flying in formation with their Second World War predecessors in the flypast.
Speaking at the loading ramp of the aircraft, Mr Bishop told the PA news agency: 'There should be VE Days for other countries, and they should all start getting together and not beating each other, but coming together.
'For me, it's important to remember some of the poor devils who didn't make it like I did, because there are two or three old friends of mine that didn't make it.'
Meanwhile, figures show that more than 50,000 children have connected with a Second World War veteran by mail ahead of VE Day.
Pubs and bars have been granted permission to stay open for longer to mark the anniversary. Above: Barrels of beer are prepared for VE Day celebrations, 1945
Together Coalition, which organises the VE Mail programme, said 1,300 schools and youth organisations had requested a letter from a veteran setting out their wartime experience and what it means to them 80 years later.
Children participating in the programme have then written back to the veteran with their own reflections.
Together Coalition said on Thursday that participating veterans had started to receive 'mail bags full of responses from schoolchildren' via the Royal Mail who are supporting the initiative.
Bombardier Tom Jones, a 103-year-old veteran, said victory in the Second World War 'protected democracy and our country for our whole lifetime'.
The veteran, who recently visited the James Brindley School in Manchester, added: 'The victory meant the world to us at the time - but the values are as relevant today as they were then.
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