East Dean with Friston Parish Magazine May 2020 online edition

days, weeks, will depend on each of us
individually. We will adapt and cope in our
various ways.
Stay safe and happy at this strange Time.
Carole Jode
VE Day remembered:
two very different
accounts
During the war, I was
living with my mother
Rose at 2 the Fridays,
East Dean, the home of
my grandparents, Bill and
Mabel Dann. My father
was away in the Royal
Navy, on an aircraft
carrier, somewhere at sea.
One sunny day in May, not long before my
3rd birthday, I was kicking a football around
in the front garden with the Wicking
brothers, John, Collin and Ray and the
Winter twins, Hugh and David, when
suddenly there were planes roaring about
over the village doing loops and victory
rolls. Sometimes they came so low that you
could easily see the markings and the pilots
waving. We thought it was a dogfight but
couldn’t make out any German planes! Then
the Church bell began to ring quite fast,
Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding. Someone said,
“The Germans are coming!” We dived
down and hid behind the flint wall. Then we
heard the clip, clop, clip, clop, of horses’
hooves. We thought they must be on horses,
so we slowly stood up and peered over the
wall. (One of the older boys helped me
climb up the wall, as I was too short to see
over it.) We’d never seen a German before
and wanted to know what they looked like.
But no! it was old David Eve with a pony
and trap from Birling Manor, making his
way up to the shops. Then my Grandma
came out all excited and said “The war’s
over, Johnny! Your daddy will be home
soon!” I’d never seen much of my dad, so
wasn’t sure how good that was! But I
remember saying “I hope he brings me some
chocolate.” We then all lay on our backs
and watched the planes celebrating
overhead. For the rest of the day, we raced
around with our arms outstretched,
pretending to be fighter planes and shouting
“Wheeeeeorrrr! Wheeeeeorrrr!, we won the
war, we won the war, Wheeeeeorrrr!”
John Dann
We all knew that the war would end any
moment. Hitler had killed himself,
Mussolini had been assassinated, the
Netherlands celebrated liberation day on
May 5 th . I went to school on Monday May
7 th expecting that that would be the day. We
were all told at prayers that we could go
home after the announcement. That evening
we learnt that VE day would be the
following day, May 8 th , my thirteenth
birthday.
The next day my parents took me up to the
West End to meet a friend at a restaurant in
Mayfair. After lunch we walked across
Green Park to Buckingham Palace to join
the crowds. Shortly afterwards the King and
Queen with the princesses together with
Winston Churchill came onto the balcony
and the cheers got louder. After a time the
Royal Party went back inside – they made
several appearances over the afternoon –
and we went home. When I see the photos
today I know exactly where I was in the
crowds.