Injured paratrooper Ben Parkinson honours VE Day veterans courage and sacrifice

The paratrooper was told he would never walk again, following a mine blast in Helmand Province in 2006, and he was warned he would never again speak.

But defying doctors, he has done both and today, at home in Doncaster, it is with a great pride that he readies to honour the courage of those who served in the Second World War.

Tomorrow’s 75-year anniversary of Victory in Europe will for him mark a day of remembrance for those who fell, he says, as well as a moment of thanks to those veterans who have since served as a support network to more recently injured personnel.

“We are all one family in the armed forces and what hurts one hurts all,” he says.

“It doesn’t matter how old you are or where you served, the sacrifice is the same if you give everything for your country.”

Lance Bombardier Parkinson, of Bessacarr, lost both legs and suffered 40 different injuries when the armoured Land Rover he was travelling in hit a mine in September 2006.

He was not expected to survive but did, since raising hundreds of thousands for charity through challenges such as cycling across New Zealand and trekking through the Arctic.

He was made a freeman of the borough of Doncaster, having carried the Olympic Torch through his home town in 2012, and awarded an MBE in 2015.

“No-one wants to fight,” he says today, when asked why this anniversary of VE Day is so important to so many.

“It doesn’t make you a better or a harder person but sometimes it has to be done.

“You have to do it for those and the country you love, and the men and women of the Second World War did it for years no matter what it cost them.

“How can you not be proud and grateful to them?”

VE Day celebrations at home

While planned veterans’ parades and public commemorations across the country tomorrow have been cancelled, communities are being asked to take pause to honour the 75th anniversary of VE Day, joining a two minute silence at 11am before a toast to the nation’s heroes at 3pm.

At 9pm, following an address from the Queen, the public will be invited to join a moment of celebration and thanksgiving by taking part in a rendition of Forces’ Sweetheart Dame Vera Lynn’s wartime anthem We’ll Meet Again.

“We should never forget,” says Lance Bombardier Parkinson, as he readies to pay tribute.

“I’ve fought in two wars, we always hope ‘this will be the last ever’. I’m sure these brave men and women thought so too.”

A shielding army

Lance Bombardier Parkinson is currently in the shielded group as countrywide lockdown continues amid the coronavirus pandemic.

It’s strange, he says, to be the one who is safe at home and reliant on others to keep him that way.

To all key workers, to the delivery drivers, the police, the dustbin men, he says they are serving as his army, and one day they too should be commemorated for their efforts in this time.

“We are really fighting another war now aren’t we?”, he reflects. “It’s a different army fighting it in a different uniform but people are doing amazing things and putting themselves in harm’s way for others.

“So it’s right that we recognise not only NHS, but everyone else on the front line, especially at this time.”

Bunting

Lance Bombardier Parkinson is calling on communities with the BBC to fly the flag for the “brave men and women” of the Second World War this VE Day.

Tomorrow will mark 75 years since the formal surrender of Nazi Germany following six long years of conflict, as the guns fell silent at the end of war in Europe and communities danced in celebrations through the night.

He is backing an initiative to create homemade ‘Great British Bunting’ to display in windows to commemorate the anniversary.

For children and young people, he says, it brings something to celebrate.

“We always hope that the little ones will never have to face wars, and it’s very important that they know what others had to do so that they can live their lives freely,” he said.

“But we don’t want them to be sad or frightened, we want them to be proud and happy that they can be involved.”

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