Victory in Europe and Victory over Japan: 80th Anniversary

Monica Harding Excerpts

Tuesday 6th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Monica Harding (Esher and Walton) (LD)]

On this 80th anniversary of VE Day, I pay tribute to those brave men and women from Esher and Walton who played their part; their names are etched on memorials throughout my constituency. All Saints church in Weston Green, Esher, has undertaken the invaluable project of recording the stories of some of the fallen on its memorial, including soldiers who fell in Italy, north Africa and the far east, sailors lost in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and pilots lost over Norway and Egypt.

We are privileged to have veterans who are still with us. My constituent Wilbur Holver celebrated his 100th birthday last month. Born in America, he served as a marine engineer, clearing mines to assure the safe passage of allied ships outside Le Havre and Antwerp, which became essential entry points for allied supplies. Wilbur told me he celebrated VE Day in three countries. First, in Holland, he celebrated with the British troops. He said it was

“the biggest party I’ve ever been in”.

It was still going when he left and returned five days later—he said that the party lasted a month or more. He then returned to France and partied some more, before ending up in London on leave, where he found himself in front of Buckingham Palace, still partying. He came to live in England, in Esher, and we are lucky to have him.

Our local area suffered during the blitz. It was once described as doodlebug alley on account of the many German V-1s passing overhead. In June 1944, a V-1 fell on Imber Court in Esher, the Met police training ground, killing 20 men of the Welsh Guards training battalion competing that day in their regimental sports competition.

On the home front, Sir Bruce White, who lived in Hersham, was instrumental in the design of the floating Mulberry harbours, and the people of Walton played their part in units such as the Walton Sparrows, which formed a vital anti-aircraft battery. The Women’s Land Army operated at Rivernook Farm in Walton and at Bell Farm, and the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes moved its headquarters to Claygate in my constituency. More than 150 local women worked there, provisioning millions of men through the canteens and bars scattered across the globe; NAAFI oversaw 7,000 canteens, and its facilities served more than 3.5 million cups of tea every day. When the war finally ended, Oatlands Park Hotel, which is still going, played host to the official celebrations, with cabaret and hundreds of guest.

As we commemorate 80 years since victory in Europe, we owe a profound debt to those who made and make sacrifices—even final sacrifices—to bring about a better, gentler world. We must never lose sight of the profound blessing and fragility of peace and how hard it was won.