VE Day 80: 'We got away with it' – Yorkshire veterans reflect on relief, revelry and sacrifice
Stepping free from the darkness of bombardment in war, Les Sunter can still hear the cry of his comrades’ victory call. The Royal Navy veteran, sharing his memories to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day, was in a harbour in Gibraltar when he heard the news of Victory in Europe.
His memories are of a drunken revelry, as his team realised they were that much closer to home. Relief, he added, can be a small word that packs a “hell of a size”.
“It was a big word because it was the word everybody seemed to express,” he said.
“Relieved they got away with it. When you think about the people got killed… And it could have happened to us at any time.”
Mr Sunter lives in Rothwell in Leeds. This week, his image is to shine on billboards in his home city. The 99-year-old is the face of a campaign from Blind Veterans UK.
Called After the Darkness it illustrates his stepping into the light, as a powerful metaphor to represent the end of nearly six years of warfare in Europe.
In Gibraltar, when the news broke, Mr Sunter can remembers the mood as jubilant.
He recalls one stoker, who was from a neighbouring ship, climbing up a crane before undressing in front of a cheering crowd, with the spotlights that were turned upon him.
“He wasn't supposed to be up there, and there was a punishment waiting for him when he come down, but he’d had too much to drink, probably," he said.
“Everybody was shouting and carrying on. That's what I remember about VE Day.”
But as the news sunk in, the feeling from his crew was huge relief, he added: “Everybody was saying the same words: ‘We've got away with it.’
“In convoys, the U-boats were chasing us all the time, sinking our ships, though it had eased up a bit. If you get torpedoed in the mid-Atlantic, there's not much chance for you, really.
“It was just a relief. When you’re out there doing it, you don't think of it. But the fact that the war was over… We were lucky.”
Today, Yorkshire's veterans share their experience of war, with one speaking of his capture as a Prisoner of War for the first time. Alf Herring led Halifax bomber crews, before he was shot down over occupied France.
And Jack Mortimer, 101, who landed on Sword Beach on D-Day, recalls his own experience at the end of war.
Across the region, as communities host Remembrance services, the bunting is this week to be strung once more.
In York, with the city walls to be lit up in red, white and blue, communities are urged to hold their own street parties, before beacons light up the skies on Thursday. Coun Pete Kilbane said: “The end of the war in Europe is a moment to celebrate. It also reminds us of the sacrifices people made.”
And the Lord Mayor of Leeds Abigail Marshall Katung, who is to host a civic service, said: “The anniversary is also a time for reflection on the many sacrifices made during that time and to learn from the strength and resilience of communities that came together for a common cause.”