BRIGG MARKING 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF SECOND WORLD WAR ENDING

 

 

The 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War will be marked in Brigg tomorrow (Saturday, August 15).
Brigg veterans will be laying a wreath at the Monument war memorial on VJ Day. They are mustering at 10.45am for 11am.
People are welcome to attend and watch the ceremony from East Park, near the Tintab shelter, but please remember to observe social distancing.
Mid-August 1945 saw Japan surrender in the Far East - the Germans having done likewise that May to end hostilities in Europe.
Brigg people celebrated the end of the Second World War with street parties and dancing in the town centre and the pubs 75 years ago.
There were reports of a police sergeant being carried shoulder high through the Market Place by a happy crowd marking the end of the global conflict after six weary years.
The Japanese did not sign the official surrender document until early September but as fighting ended in mid-August the new government, under Prime Minister Clem Attlee, declared that celebrations should be held across the UK to mark this milestone.
Labour's Clem took over from Winston Churchill (Conservative). For much of the conflict, Winston had been Prime Minister and Clem the Deputy PM. Both statesmen had seen active service in previous conflicts, and Major Attlee was wounded in action. The first General Election since pre-war days, when the Conservatives were returned to power, ended in a landslide win for Labour. For most of the conflict, the country was run by a coalition government.
We've compiled a two-page feature about VJ Day 1945 in North Lincolnshire which appears in the current edition of the Scunthorpe Telegraph newspaper, if you want to get a copy.
Brigg veterans this week completed a VJ Day commemorative 'Lest We Forget' display on the flower bed beside the A18 near Wetherspoon's White Horse pub. It includes bamboo, flags and pendants.
This follows the distinctive display, complete with landing craft, that was created to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, France, undertaken by Allied troops in June 1944.
PICTURED: The new 'Lest We Forget' display in Brigg which was completed yesterday (Thursday). Picture courtesy of Charles Brindley, forces' veteran.