VE-Day 2015: London marks 70th anniversary with church service - Action News
Home WebMail Monday, November 11, 2024, 04:27 AM | Calgary | -1.3°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
World

VE-Day 2015: London marks 70th anniversary with church service

The Queen and other members of the Royal Family attended a memorial service at Westminster Abbey in London on Sunday as part of the week-long commemoration of Victory in Europe Day.

CBC News has special coverage of the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day

The Queen greets veterans inside Westminster Abbey after a church service to mark the 70th anniversary of VE-Day. (CBC)

The Queen and other members of the Royal Family attended a memorial service at Westminster Abbey in London on Sunday as part of the week-long commemoration of Victory in Europe Day.

More than 1,000 veterans also attended the church service.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, gave the sermon at the Thanksgiving Service to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe.

He read from text quoting the thoughts of Winston Churchill after he became Britain's prime minister in May 1940, following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain.

"Now at last the slowly-gathered, long pent-up fury of the storm broke upon us," Churchill wrote. "Four or five millions of men met each other in the first shock of the most merciless of all the wars of which record has been kept. Within six weeks we were to find ourselves alone, almost disarmed, with the whole of Europe open to Hitler's power."

VE-Day marks the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany in the war on May 8, 1945.

In another commemoration event, about 2,000 people many veterans and armed forces personnel took part in a parade through central London to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe.

The events wrapped up with a fly-past by the Royal Air Force's aerobatic team, Red Arrows. Aircraft that flew over Whitehall and St. James's Park included Spitfires and Hurricanes.

There have been ceremonies and paradesacross Europe to commemorate VE-Day.