May, 1945
Frenzy. A turbulent sea of tightly packed bodies crowded
into Trafalgar Square. My voice rose to join thousands of
others in a thunderous cheer drowning out the
announcement that the Allies had accepted the
unconditional surrender of the Third Reich. As the woman
next to me buried her head into my shoulder, the tears that
ran freely from her deeply bagged eyes smudged across
my cheek. I looked over the stranger’s shoulder at the
faces of others in the crowd. Everywhere I looked it was
the same. Weary faces washed clean with new smiles.
The ecstatic voice of the BBC presenter continued to float
across the crowd from tinny speakers, but no one was
listening. All that mattered was one simple fact: the war
was over.
The only hint to their intention was, instead of their usual
cargo, the crews were dropping red and green flares to
the delight of the cheering streets. I stood for a moment in
the doorway, under a string of hastily put up allied flags
waving lazily in the breeze. Looking out into the smiling
faces of the crowd I realised they, like the flags, were
unfazed.
I suddenly felt very alone in the packed street. Grabbing
on to a passing tram that was headed for Piccadilly, I
pulled myself into its tightly packed interior. My reflection
in the window, caused by the sun slowly sinking over the
rooftops, stared at me through haunted eyes. Unable
to bear the gaze any longer I pushed my way out and
landed on the steadily darkening pavement. Keeping my
I untangled myself from the crowd and drifted down a side head down I walked swiftly through streets I had known
street that connected the square to the rest of London. As my entire life until I came to the apartment block where
I had once lived. Someone had lit a bonfire and it cast
I passed a group of people dressed in red, white and
blue I realised that the celebrating was not confined to the eerie shadows through the twisted rubble. I moved closer
through the wreckage numb to everything except the
square. Everybody in London, everybody in England,
heat from the flames. A number of others were gathered
must be rejoicing in the fact that six years of anxiety and
pain had ended. The same people had gathered around around staring into the embers. They wore their grief not
a battered upright that had hastily been pulled out onto the only on their faces, but throughout their entire bodies,
hunched over like blades of grass under the weight of
street. Its loud out-of-tune chords were soon
dew. One of them wearily raised his head and
accompanied by even louder out-of-tune singing. I
couldn’t help but be pulled in by the music and happiness. acknowledged me with a silent nod. Looking at them I
Grabbing the wrist of a girl with sparkling eyes, I pulled her came to the realisation, the war was not over, it would be
with us for the rest of our lives.
into the circle of dancers ringing the piano. We danced
with no particular style or skill until my partner was knocked
over by a couple, enthusiastically spinning by the kerb. I Jonathan Willis
pulled her to her feet and was rewarded with a kiss full on
the mouth. Our moment was broken by an adventurous
driver, who had dared to drive his small lorry through the
crowded streets. It crawled around the corner, outline lost
beneath the mass of people that clung to it, momentarily
breaking up the dancing couples. Pulling myself up I
noticed that she had already moved on. Her sparkling
eyes lost in the face of a young man in green, with three
stripes on his shoulder and a metal cross pinned to his
chest with purple ribbon.
Casting one last glance over my shoulder at the piano,
which was now almost obscured from view by the press
of impromptu dancers, I carried on down the street. A
cluster of children ran towards me, their heads engulfed
by coloured paper hats which came down to the tops of
their eyes. Unable to understand anything other than the
happiness that surrounded them, their faces lit up when
they saw a group of G.I’s had formed a conga line down
the middle of the street. My thoughts were torn by the roar
of planes overhead. I moved to the shelter of the nearest
doorway and instinctively spread my legs slightly to lower
my centre of gravity. Nervously flicking my eyes skyward,
I noticed three planes flying low over the city in V formation.