B

Baroness Fraser of Craigmaddie (Con)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 20 March 2025

Debate

Victory in Europe and Japan: 80th Anniversaries

Contribution

My Lords, popular thinking about VE Day is of parties and celebration. As the noble Baroness said, this will be the last opportunity we have to thank the veterans. But there were many who did not grow old as those who were left grew old. Particularly given the parallels at the moment, during these VE celebrations it is important that we ensure that we do not forget the cost and the sacrifices that were made. How are we going to ensure this? When I asked my father for his memories of VE Day, he said that the family did not really celebrate it because his 19 year-old brother had been killed on 26 April 1945. The family had just received the telegram—which was the second, because his elder brother was killed in the Arctic convoys in 1944. Can we ensure that our younger generation—who may be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice one day—understand the ultimate sacrifices that were made by those people?

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