You will now hear a statement by the prime minister.
I am speaking to you from the cabinet room at Ten Downing Street.
I have to tell you now, this country is at war with Germany.
On September 3rd, 1939,
World War Two began. Doreen was only eight years old and living in the east end of London near the docks.
I think there was an element of excitement as well as fear,
I think we got more fearful as the Germans invaded France,
and France fell while the other countries around were falling.
And we felt very much alone I think, then.
We weren't so sure we were going to win this war.
We started to get a little bit frightened I think.
At the start of the war, many children were evacuated
from their homes. This meant they were sent to safety in the
countryside away from the big cities.
The evacuation, our actual school wasn't evacuated with them because
my mother wanted to keep us at home. It must have been very lonely
for the few of us that were left at that time, at the beginning,
because this friend of mine, she went to Weymouth and they were having
a far worse time down in Weymouth than what we were having in London.
But then, of course, it went the other way once the Blitz started.
For Londoners, one of the worst periods of the war was the Blitz.
For 11 weeks, from 1940 to 1941, there were nightly bombings in
London. Over 32,000 civilians were killed in these attacks.
It was continuous, night after night. We would have to go down the shelter.
And then it was like it was the of the world because you could see nothing but fire all around you.
My friend Marjorie had the worst experience because
I think they had - their grandparents had a direct hit on their shelter,
and they both died and an old auntie and that.
Doreen kept in contact with her evacuated friend,
Marjorie by writing letters.
And when she went away, she is five months younger than I am, and
she would have been eight or nine.
But we were back together again by the time she was ten,
she made good friends and she was billeted with nice people.
She had about three or four homes down in the Weymouth district.
So it's quite a story that she's got to tell about those.
75 years later, Doreen and Marjorie are still friends.
Spoke to her on the phone this week.
Hostilities will end officially at one minute after midnight tonight,
Tuesday, the 8th of May.
Six years after the war began, on May 8th, 1945,
Prime Minister Winston Churchill made an announcement on the radio that the war in Europe had come to an end.
A man we seem to have seen before somewhere,
looks down from a balcony in Whitehall.
People came out onto the streets to celebrate together.
We could get up to London to watch the victory march and things like
that, you see - yeah, we we're very much a part of all that, the
euphoria after it was all over. Massive relief.
VE-Day is still celebrated every year on the 8th of May.
World VE-Day is a time to celebrate, but it's also a time used to remember
the millions of loved ones who lost their lives in the conflict.
2020 is the 75th anniversary of VE-Day. Doreen survived the Blitz,
the war and being separated from her school friends.
This year, she shares some advice for the many school children who may
be feeling scared or sad throughout the current Covid-19 pandemic.
Well, just to keep smiling through.
It'll come out alright in the end, good days are - good days are coming.
We don't know when, but they're coming.