While war raged on in the East for another three months, May 8, 1945 – VE-Day – saw peace descend in Europe after nearly six years of bitter and bloody conflict, of Holocaust and genocide, and of destruction and suffering most people today would find hard to imagine.
Those who fought or saw their loved ones go off to fight, some – around 385,000 from the UK alone – never to return, are few in number, and even the children of that great generation are now aged, and often in need of support. Our support.
SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity was there for the servicemen and women, and their families then and is still now. And yet the work is not over; while their numbers reduce each year, SSAFA supports all ages, all ranks, and all generations of the whole Forces family – some 54,000 in 2023 alone – in 2025 just as it did in 1945.
To commemorate the 80th anniversary, and to ensure that SSAFA – which marks its 140th anniversary this year – can continue to help those who have risked all, a range of mugs, homewares, and clothing is available. These feature a stylised version of the iconic “V for Victory” made by two searchlights over St Paul’s Cathedral, while well as T-shirts incorporating a dramatic “V”, are available to buy from the SSAFA store.
A spokesperson said:
“Buying a SSAFA VE-Day mug or T-shirt means that we can carry on what we’ve been doing since 1885 because we believe that no-one in the Armed Forces community – regardless of ship, regiment, or squadron, old or young, serving or retired – should never have to face struggles and battle them alone.”
To mark the end of World War Two in Europe, and to support SSAFA in its mission, search for “SSAFA VE-Day 80” or visit SSAFAstore.org.uk to view the full range.
