Young generation must not forget our WWII heroes and why they fought
A new polls finds just a third of young people know what ‘VE Day’ means
For decades after the Second World War, the conflict dominated our national conversation and shaped our political thinking. The country was run by politicians like Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath, who took part in the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944, and Labour Chancellor Denis Healey, who was the beachmaster for the British assault brigade during the Battle of Anzio.
However, as the number of remaining veterans dwindles, so too is our collective memory. According to a new poll, 63 per cent of all adults and only 34 per cent of ‘Generation Z’ – those born between 1997 and 2012 – know that “VE Day” stands for the end of the Second World War in Europe. Royal British Veterans Enterprise, the charity which commissioned the poll, said it showed "a gap in public understanding of military service past and present".
In these troubled times, with the threat posed by Vladimir Putin’s tyrannical, murderous regime in Russia and the far-right on the rise in parts of Europe, we must always remember the sacrifices made by a generation of heroes to preserve the freedom and democracy that we enjoy today.
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