01-05-2025
Revealed: Plans for VE Day commemorations in Aberdeen, Keith and Huntly next week
Aberdeen and the north-east celebrated victory in Europe in 1945 with a series of street parties, church services, sports events and children's galas.
Cities, towns and little villages held their own festivities and have continued to pay their respects on VE Day on May 8 for the last 80 years.
But now, there's almost nobody left of the military personnel who fought for freedom across the globe, including in Europe and further afield in the Far East, where the hostilities continued until August and VJ Day.
It's why the 80th anniversary commemorations will be so poignant — they will likely be the final official events to honour those who fell in battle that the dead's few surviving comrades will be able to attend.
More than 2,400 Gordon Highlanders perished in the conflict, while thousands of other soldiers were injured or spent years incarcerated in PoW camps.
And next week, their sacrifice will be remembered during a series of special services in Aberdeen, Huntly and Keith.
Major Grenville Irvine-Fortescue MBE, the chairman of the Gordon Highlanders Association, has outlined details of the events taking place across the north east.
He will be running the service at the Castlegate in Aberdeen which begins at 10.30am.
It will be attended by the Gordon Highlanders Association Drums and Pipes and
The Lord Lieutenant for Aberdeen City, David Cameron, will lay a wreath at the site.
The Royal British Legion will be represented by the chairman of the Aberdeen Branch, George Reid, and The Burgesses of Guild of the City of Aberdeen will be represented by The Lord Dean of Guild, Sylvia Halkerston.
And it's hoped that Jim Glennie, 99, the last surviving Gordon Highlander from the conflict, who was involved in the D-Day landings in Normandy, will be at the ceremony.
The commemoration in Keith will also begin at 10.30am at the Gordon Highlander Memorial and will include a piper and local clergy, along with attendance by the Vice Lord Lieutenant for Banffshire, Brigadier The Hon Hugh Monro CBE DL.
The Huntly service will begin at midday at the Huntly War Memorial and will include a piper and local clergy and The Lord Lieutenant for Aberdeenshire, Sandy Manson.
He will be joined by the Provost of Aberdeenshire, Cllr Judy Whyte and the Deputy Provost and Armed Forces Champion for Aberdeenshire, Cllr Ron McKail.
Maj Irvine-Fortescue said: 'I want to encourage maximum attendance by Gordon Highlander veterans and their families from Aberdeen and across the counties of Moray, Banffshire, Aberdeenshire and Kincardineshire.
'Whilst the services will be Gordon Highlander 'focused', we welcome veterans from other regiments and those who had fathers and grandfathers who fought [in the Second World War] along veterans of the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force.
'Everybody is most welcome to join any of these services.'
It might be a very different world from that of 1945 and, with hostilities currently raging in Ukraine and the Middle East, troops and civilians, including women and children, are still dying in war-ravaged parts of the globe.
Yet Maj Irvine-Fortescue believes there plenty of reasons why people should pause for a few moments on May 8 and pay homage to those who saved the world from Nazism.
He said: 'We are commemorating and remembering the hundreds of thousands who made the ultimate sacrifice during the six years of war.
'And not just the sailors, soldiers and airmen, but so many others from all walks of life – without whose sacrifice we would very probably not be here today.
'That sacrifice allowed us to largely live in peace for the last 80 years. Despite all the ups and downs, that is a remarkable achievement and it shows what amazing resilience the British people have to adapt and meet challenges from wherever they may come.
'The grandchildren and great grandchildren of so many from the north-east need to be reminded what their forebears did and achieved and should take great pride in that.
'Those who were not a part of those terrible times can have no inkling of the horrors of war. We are very fortunate to have one or two very special Second World War veterans still with us. It is our privilege to honour and thank them on this 80th anniversary.
'So let us also celebrate the end of the war. For those of us who were not there, we cannot but imagine the fear, the worry, the terrible sadness at lost loved ones and not knowing when it was all going to end.
'But when it did, what wonderful, wonderful joy there was in our country.
'That is why VE Day should be remembered – as a combination of commemoration and thanks and celebration that it was all over.'
