The end of the end

VE DAY—Victory in Europe—passed with no public celebration in the village, as I recall, although as an eight year old in the summer of 1945, my awareness may not have been focused. However, VJ Day—Victory over Japan Day—four months later, really did galvanise Frampton on Severn.

The war had not left this corner of rural Gloucestershire untouched. Some evidence of it was remote: the rumble of bombs on Bristol to the south, the vapour trails over the Bristol Channel as fighters from nearby Moreton Valence intercepted enemy bombers. Some