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Daily Mirror
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Tragic truth behind famous smiles in VE Day photo beamed around the world
The Mirror has tracked down the families of two teenagers snapped celebrating in Trafalgar Square's fountain amid VE Day scenes of joy These two ladies reflected the immense joy and relief felt by billions around the world on VE Day. The images of them 'frolicking' in the fountain in Trafalgar Square were beamed all around the globe. Described as two Land Army girls celebrating with their boyfriends. But The Mirror can reveal the true story behind the famous photos, after tracking down their family to uncover the true story behind the iconic pictures. Life-long pals Joyce Digney and Cynthia Covello, both in their late teens, were not dating the servicemen they were snapped with. Joyce was married and unaware she was pregnant when the photo was taken. They would soon be sailing to Canada to join their soul mates both from the Canadian military. And behind their smiles lay the pain of having suffered 'terrible tragedies' - each lost a brother during the war and had just lit a candle for them at St Paul's Cathedral.. They both ended up splashing around after vowing to each other that if they survived the bombs of World War II, they would travel to London to celebrate together. In a letter to her family Joyce, who got married in May 1944, who had chucked her job as a typist in London to escape to the countryside, described it as the 'most memorable day of my life'. She had met Cynthia on her first day working as a Land Girl, running from the bombs which had forced her to cower under her desk. 'The first day on the job I met Cynthia and we became very close friends. She became the sister I never had,' she wrote in a letter to her family. The pair would be picked up at 6.30am from a stop near their home in Epsom and taken to pick potatoes, alongside an Italian prisoner of war and women from Holloway prison. 'While working, Cynthia and I decided that if we were still alive when it was all over we were going to London to celebrate like we had seen in pictures from the First World War. 'Cynthia stayed at my home overnight on Monday May 7th 1945. We left May 8th to catch the 8am train to London.' Their first spot was St Paul's Cathedral, Joyce explained 'to give thanks that we were still alive' and to say a prayer for their brothers, both pilots who were killed in the war. Joan's brother died when his plane went down over the channel. 'When we came out of we said 'now we will go and celebrate,' she wrote, her family explaining to us how she was married and pregnant with her first child Paul on VE Day, who was named after the famous landmark. She continued to describe their day: 'We walked London; Buckingham Palace, Whitehall, Westminster - most of the streets were closed off to traffic and there was singing, dancing hugs, kisses everywhere. 'We ended up in Trafalgar Square with a gigantic Congo line going on. Every statue that could be climbed on had someone on them. The London 'bobbies' all had a smile on their faces and 'for the most part, turned a blind eye as to what was going on. 'It was a rather warm humid day and sitting around the two fountains, with the fountains turned off, were people with their shoes off cooling their feet. By this time our feet were killing us so we took our shoes off, rolled up our pants and climbed in and went wading. 'The next thing, a soldier dived in from the fountain (how he didn't kill himself I'll never know) and swam around. Your auntie Joyce picked up a piece of string that was floating along with all the other debris and when he emerged at my feet, I put the string around his neck and said; 'I crown you the king of Trafalgar Square'. With that he put his arms around me, fell back into the water and took me with him. 'I was completely under the water and soaked as I went under I heard a roar from the crowd and Cynthia saying 'don't come near me'. She was scared of water. 'When I emerged he was under me and I grabbed him by the front of his uniform and dunked him up and down and said; 'look what you have done to me How am I going to get home like this. I ended up swimming around the fountain with him. I was already very wet. I don't know who he was…' She told how footage of her 'dunking this soldier' was shown in the movies in 1948. 'We ended up near Waterloo station around a big bonfire where I managed to dry off. We took the last train home and when your nan answered the door, she took one look at me and said 'where have you been you smell!' 'VE days is one of the most memorable days of my life. To be with thousands of people, smiling and so happy after nearly six years of war. Joyce said their bond lasted a lifetime, through the birth of her son Paul, the eldest of three, where Cynthia stayed 'holding my hand.' Cynthia died aged 59 in 1983 and Joyce last year. Joyce's granddaughter Emma Digney, 31, said of their incredible bond: 'They did a very scary thing together and both lost brothers and both married Canadian soldiers and then moved together. Her nanna had told them of the hardships of growing up during the war. 'Our area was one of the last lines of defence before the Germans reached London. The authorities felt it was better to shoot them down in an area that wasn't so heavily populated as London. 'My Mum panicked when the guns started and the searchlights went on and she said we all had to go to the public shelters about 10 minutes walk from our house.' But their mum ended up dragging them all home again after a bomb exploded close to their shelter telling them: 'We are not going to die like rats in a trap. We are going home'. VE Day: 80th Anniversary Magazine Specials To commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day, we bring you two special special collector's magazines that look back at events that led to the end of World War II in Europe and marked a new era. In the VE Day 80: Anniversary Collector's Edition we share photographs from the street parties that were held all over Britain, while esteemed author and journalist Paul Routledge paints a picture of how the day was bittersweet, mixed with jubilation and hope for the future, as well as sadness and regret for the past. Routledge also recounts the key events of the Second World War, including Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain and Pearl Harbour. The magazine costs £9.99. Also available is World War Two - A History in 50 Photographs, a definitive pictorial account of the war. Carefully chosen from hundreds of thousands of images, this commemorative magazine shares 50 exceptional photographs - including many rarely seen shots - that capture the devastating moments, horror, hope and eventual triumph of World War Two. The magazine costs £6.99. You can buy your copies here! In the end they had shelters built inside their home and they would all sleep downstairs. A dining table had a mattress placed on top and under the stairs was changed into a bomb shelter. The next day after the raids, people would ask: "Have you heard if St, Paul's is alright?" It seemed to be a symbol that if St Paul's survived the raids we would be alright. Later recalling the bombings she would say: 'We lost a tile on our roof, the only damage we had during the whole war. Although a bomb had dropped in the park at the bottom of our garden and we hadn't even woke up from it. We had learned to sleep through anything by this time.' But they like many others suffered heartbreak, she said: 'On May 13th 1943 my brother Bill, the Spitfire pilot, didn't make it back from a raid over Europe. went down in the English Channel. He and his plane were never recovered. 'I will always remember that Sunday when there was a knock on the door about 5.30 pm and when I went to the door, there was a policeman asking for Mr Brookes. I told him that my father wasn't home, he was lawn bowling in the park. 'Mum came to the door and she knew right away. She said,"It's Billy, what has happened?" The policeman asked to come in and told us that Billy was missing. 'I will always remember my mother's screams till the day I die. She started getting pictures of Billy out to show the policeman. He was so compassionate. I remember standing in the living room window watching for Dad. About 6 pm I saw him walking up the road. I thought; 'He doesn't know about it yet, how I wish I was him.' Her granddaughter, Annie Brookes 47, from Warwick, whose dad is Paul, said: 'Nanna was always very proud of this picture and so are we. It's our claim to fame. It's something we still talk about in the family. 'It's wonderful so wonderful. What's funny is that nanna had it up in her flat for years and we all knew about the picture. She was pregnant at the time and neither of these men were her husbands. 'She was definitely a flirt, her husband was fine with it. He was very laid back and he would have been 'that's your nanna'. 'She thought it was all very exciting, the fact that neither of the men were their husbands. 'But when they added colour to the photo later she would say they did that wrong, 'there's no way a blonde would wear a yellow jumper! I would not have been dead in yellow!'' 'She was the war bride who met my grandad when he served in the Canadian Air Force. He was called Andrew 'Dig' but we called him Grandpa Diggy. 'She was pregnant with my Uncle Paul when that picture was taken and when the war ended she moved to Canada.' Of the picture, she adds: 'It's the joy I love so much. They are letting go and it represents what people felt with the end of the war.' Her granddaughter Emma Digney, 31, from Wandsworth grew up in Canada and now lives in the UK. 'I used to walk through Trafalgar Square to work. It reminds me how incredible her life was, at such a young age to move to another country, she had such bravery, it's a special photo for other people as well. 'I've been going to Trafalgar Square since I was really little but going to it now is more poignant. 'I think it makes me very grateful that we don't have to live through that and reminds you how lucky we are to live in a country not affected by war. 'She used to always talk about the doodle bugs and hearing about them as a kid doesn't seem that scary. It's only when you get older you grasp things with more understanding and realise how dangerous and scary they would have been. 'But she was a positive woman who never told the stories with fear but was vivacious and quick witted, being the teenagers of the war she had to grow up very quickly and gained a lot of strength. She definitely was a force to be reckoned with. 'Six months before she died she loved talking about it and talking about Cynthia. 'They were the only ones in the fountain which very much does sum up my nana - she was always beating to her own drum.'
BBC News
07-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
VE Day memories of an Essex World War Two Land Girl
'I absolutely loved being a World War Two Land Girl' 12 minutes ago Share Save Shaun Peel BBC News, Essex Share Save Martin Giles/BBC Eileen Webster, pictured in her Women's Land Army blazer, has happy memories of her wartime service When World War Two broke out, many of the men who worked on our farms were called to fight and their jobs were done by the Women's Land Army. Eileen Webster was just 17 when she signed up. She will be 100 later this year but still remembers it like it was yesterday. "My brother was a Royal Marines Commando, the other was a Spitfire mechanic, so I wanted to do something, too," she says. Eileen, from Sewards End, near Saffron Walden, Essex, was sent to a farm at Takeley, near what is now Stansted Airport, where she lived in a hostel with 16 other girls. "Growing up with two brothers, I wasn't used to being with a group of girls, but I absolutely loved it," she says. Family Photo Eileen's brothers both fought in the war: Len (left) as a Spitfire mechanic, and Charlie as a Royal Marines Commando, who took part in the D-Day landings Eileen had grown up in the East End of London and left school "with not much of an education" at 14. "We lived near the River Thames. When the war broke out, nothing really happened for a few months, and then one Saturday we were sitting around the kitchen table and we heard the planes coming up the river. They started bombing us," she remembers. Family Photo Eileen (left), pictured with a fellow Land Girl at Takeley, Essex Eileen was "Land Girl" for the last three three years of the war, right up to VE Day. It was sold as a healthy, happy job. In fact, it was tough, dirty and back-breaking work with long days. The Women's Land Army was established in World War One, but re-founded in June 1939 to provide extra labour. By the end of the war, more than 80,000 women were working in the fields. They did a wide range of jobs, including milking cows, lambing, managing poultry, ploughing, gathering crops and carrying out farm maintenance. Initially they earned £1.85 for a minimum of 50 hours' work a week, which increased to £2.85 in 1944. "The worst season was the winter. I remember top-and-tailing the sugar beet with a big chopper and my hands were so frozen I was worried I would have an accident," she says. "That was harsh, but the harvest time was the best. We worked until 10 o'clock at night, but I can't fault it - and I got to drive a tractor," she says. Family Photo The Land Army workers were initially paid £1.85 for a minimum of 50 hours' work a week While she no longer drives a tractor, Eileen still drives a car, taking hers to the local shops "I suppose they'll tell me to stop driving one day, but I feel quite safe - I don't go mad," she says., She also drives to the village church where she lays a wreath each Remembrance Sunday. She feels it is important that the duty of remembrance is continued and passed on. "A lot of people don't care about it now, do they really?" she says. "Let's face it, it's only us that belong to something that keeps things going. "They should have more talks in schools. I've spoken in schools about it because we have to remember that if people didn't give their lives it could have gone the other way and we could have been invaded." Eileen went to London on VE Day to take part in the celebrations Fortunately, it didn't go the other way. Victory in Europe was announced on 8 May 1945. There was only one place Eileen wanted to be. "When we heard the war was over we got on the train and went up to London," she says. "We were celebrating in Trafalgar Square... Everybody was so happy and cuddling each other and kissing and dancing and singing. It was a really lovely atmosphere. "I was there all night and I fell asleep in the entrance to a cinema. I had my photo taken by a reporter from the Daily Herald." Martin Giles/BBC Eileen loved rural Essex so much that she moved close to the fields where she worked as Land Girl Eileen loved her wartime years in rural Essex so much that she moved there in the 1970s, settling in a village just a few miles from the fields where she spent her late teens. "The house where we stayed is still there. It's called The Limes and there were 16 Land Army girls in there, with two ladies looking after us. "Sometimes when I'm out that way I stop and look up at the house and remember that bunk bed where I used to sleep. It was such a happy time." Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
The Sun
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Brits party like it's 1945 as UK celebrates 80th anniversary of VE Day with a proper knees-up
BRITAIN partied like it was 1945 yesterday as the nation celebrated the 80th anniversary of VE Day with a proper knees-up. Street parties sprung up across the land once again amid happy songs and dance. 6 6 6 It was a fitting toast to those who gave their today so we could have our tomorrow. Wartime music played as people — young and old — helped recreate the greatest day in our nation's long history. Some dressed up in 1940s military uniforms while others paid a heartfelt tribute to the defiant backbone of the Land Army. The nationwide party kicked off at Buckingham Palace which hosted a special bash for veterans. Over in Downing Street, guests were seated at two long tables decorated with flowers, miniature Union flags and table mats. Among the guests were Second World War veterans Ruth Brook Klauber and Colin Deverell, both aged 101. Bunting was hanging over the tables and draped over the ground floor windows of No 10. Over in Preston, Lancs, six women stole the limelight as Land Army Girls — as they paraded proudly down a party street. And in nearby Blackburn, around 10,000 turned up for a party in the park. Karen Turner, 51, who was there with her family, said: 'Eighty years is a big milestone and it's important we celebrate it. There are not many veterans still with us.' VE Day was a 'jolly' moment but work went on, 100-year-old former Wren says Thirty miles west, in Lytham, a VE street party was in full flow. And in Stockton-on-Tees, Co Durham, families gathered at a party at Preston Park Museum. A late Victorian Street with period shops and cobbles was repurposed into a 1940s theme with wartime music played across the Union Jack festooned tables. Sheila McIntyre, 73, dressed as a Land Girl, said: 'It's nice to see something happening that has a real community feel to it.' Meanwhile, London's East End — flattened by the Nazis during the Blitz — also rejoiced. Wapping, home to the docklands and shipyards, was bombed for 57 consecutive nights during the war. 6 6 6 But yesterday, with a hat tip to history, hundreds gathered on the village green. Tom Simpson, 40, who took his son Luka, seven, said: 'It's important to celebrate it this year — perhaps more now than ever. We don't want history to repeat itself.' Carer Katie Mountain, 40, with son Connor, said: 'We look after our own in Wapping and we're doing that today.' In South Wales, Cardiff Castle welcomed hundreds of families to a mass picnic on its giant lawn. Performers Polly Kilpatrick and Cathy Peace entertained the crowds as Vera and Lynn. In the North Yorks village of Kildwick, locals enjoyed a ration supper before listening to voice recordings of elderly residents who lived through VE Day as kids. And in Hull, thousands flocked to East Park in the sunshine. Singers in period costume belted out wartime classics.
Powys County Times
05-05-2025
- General
- Powys County Times
Land Army veteran in Welshpool remembers VE Day celebrations
A 98-year-old woman residing in Welshpool recalled her memories of VE Day 80 years later after serving in the Land Army in Powys during World War 2. Edith Thomas, who currently lives in Llys Hafren care home in Welshpool, spoke to the County Times about her memories of serving in the Land Army and experiencing VE Day on May 8, 1945, ahead of the 80th anniversary of the event this Thursday (May 8). Originally from Salford, Manchester, she joined the Land Army during the war and stayed in the service after the end of the war, being sent to Powys to work in farming as the country continued to recover after the conflict. She said: 'It was by that time that men weren't working, with so many having been called away for the war so the girls were called up to fill in the workforce. 'I knew I didn't want to go to work in a factory. I did want to join the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) but couldn't speak any French or German. So the next option was to become a Land Girl. 'The girls at Coed Y Dinas were all in the same boat, all roughly the same age and all away from home. So there was some great bonding from that. I made some lifelong friends from the experience. 'We planted potatoes on Long Mountain, putting them in a ditch and covering them in soil so they could be kept for winter, as it was already known that the whole country would be short on supplies by then.' On VE Day Edith found herself travelling to Stepney, London, with a group of other Land Girls and celebrated in the streets with thousands of others as news of the war's end in Europe broke. 'I spent four years in the Land Army and then happened to be on weekend leave and travelled to London with some other Land Girls on VE Day when news that the war was over came through," she said. 'I just remember people cheering and cheering as if it would never stop. You could feel the huge outpour of relief from everyone around you. 'There's a lot of fondness for that time but it wasn't a nice experience. The fear or sirens and running into shelters. It upended everything we thought was normal. 'I had a good time at Coed Y Dinas and was lucky being there. It's strange to feel lucky at a time like that when there was so much trouble in the world around you. "But I also remember how suddenly everything changed. I could even remember lying awake at night and hearing the lonely sound of a train in the distance, wondering if I'd ever get to go home and if things would ever return to normal.'
Telegraph
04-05-2025
- Climate
- Telegraph
Inside the BBC's VE Day coverage: ‘We must protect the veterans at all costs'
The 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, on Thursday, may be the last significant milestone for many of those who risked their lives to end the Second World War, and, given that the 75th anniversary of VE Day fell during the early phase of the coronavirus pandemic, this week's commemorations feel like one big last hurrah to celebrate the ultimate victory over Nazi Germany. A large military parade takes place tomorrow, and there will be a morning memorial service at Westminster Abbey and a star-studded evening concert at Horse Guards Parade on VE Day itself. These landmark events will be broadcast by the BBC, with an expected audience of millions. The plans to co-ordinate the Armed Forces, the Royal family and pop stars are nightmarishly tricky. But Claire Popplewell, the BBC executive charged with overseeing the broadcasts and who has delivered coverage of previous global events, including the weddings of the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as well as Nelson Mandela's funeral and VE Day 75, knows that the most important people there will be the military veterans. Popplewell says that her team is 'very aware' of the dwindling number of heroes who helped liberate the Continent from Adolf Hitler 's clutches, and 'we're talking to as many veterans as we possibly can' as part of the BBC's coverage. The oldest who has been interviewed is 108, with 'three or four' who are 106 or 107. Does the fact that many of these people may not be around for the 90th anniversary add to the pressure? 'Possibly,' she says. 'The lovely thing with VE Day is that it crosses so many generations. It isn't just about those who fought on the front line, but so many people who were affected, whether it's those serving at home, whether it was the Land Army, or the ladies in the factories, or the evacuees, who are of a slightly younger generation, but were still hugely impacted by the Second World War.' With nearly all the VE Day events taking place outdoors, thoughts inevitably turn to the unreliable British weather. After all, Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee Thames flotilla was marred by unseasonably heavy rain in June 2012, and Prince Philip was subsequently hospitalised with a bladder infection. Popplewell tries not to worry about the weather. 'You can't change it, can you? I always hope... when the sun shines, it transforms an event,' she says. 'Many times I've watched Trooping the Colour where it has been so hot, you've had people fainting, or so wet that the puddles are massive on Horse Guards Parade. I don't even look at the forecast, because you will either be hopeful or worried. You've just got to go with it on the day.' Former servicemen will not be exposed to any inclement weather this year. 'What we do is always to protect the veterans, so they will be under cover. The veterans have that duty of care.' Popplewell has been creative director for events at BBC Studios, the corporation's for-profit arm, since November 2018. The years since have been unprecedentedly busy from a ceremonial-event point of view: the centenary of the end of the First World War in 2018, Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022, her death and funeral that September, then the King's Coronation in May 2023. On top of that are all the usual annual events, such as Trooping the Colour and the Remembrance Day service at the Cenotaph. Popplewell says that she had no 'grand plan' to work in such a specialised field of broadcasting. Having started out as a producer of daytime programmes, she moved to sport and then food, where she was a director on Gary Rhodes's programmes. Her first taste of the ceremonial side of television was the Queen Mother's funeral in 2002. 'I love the discipline of live [TV], I love the fun. I like it when it almost goes wrong, but it doesn't... as long as it really doesn't.' The most nerve-racking event of her career was Queen Elizabeth's funeral, which followed Popplewell working flat out to cover all the events after her death in the run-up to her being laid to rest. Tens of millions were watching in the UK alone. 'It had to be perfect,' she says. 'It was a complete lack of sleep by the time we got to that funeral day, because we had been going for so long.' Of course, Huw Edwards was the commentator on both Queen Elizabeth's funeral and the King's Coronation. Now that Edwards is in disgrace, the cast of presenters appears to be widening, so as not to have one person dominating all national occasions. Sophie Raworth is anchoring the VE Day coverage from a studio in St James's Park, for instance. 'Sophie is our reporter for the Cenotaph,' says Popplewell, 'and she has an amazing connection with the veterans.' Has the departure of Edwards, who had become the heir to David Dimbleby, changed how the BBC picks its presenters for these big national occasions? 'No. I don't think, in all honesty, anything has changed at all. The fact that people move on creates a natural opportunity for new people to come forward,' says Popplewell. 'Yes, Huw was a big part of our team. But Sophie has worked with us for equally as long.' Some previous commemorations of military victories – including the centenary of the Battle of Passchendaele, in 2017 – have been criticised for being too gloomy in parts. In an attempt to avoid such comments this time, the Thursday-night concert, hosted by Zoe Ball, will feature Strictly Come Dancing stars performing to the music of the X Factor singer Fleur East, a mini-revival of Dad's Army starring Derek Jacobi and Larry Lamb, as well as the West End star Samantha Barks performing Vera Lynn's wartime classic We'll Meet Again. 'The thing about VE Day is, yes, you remember the sacrifice that people have made, but what is so special is this actually is a celebration. The overriding tone is [that of] a party,' says Popplewell. 'It's the nation coming together.' While Popplewell's brief is to make an entire nation of TV viewers feel like they are part of proceedings this week, she is ultimately focused on those who risked their lives during the war. 'I just want the veterans to have a good time,' she says. 'More than anything, whether they are watching at home, or whether they are there, or whether it's their families, I want them to know the gratitude I think this nation does have for the sacrifices that so many of them made.'
