On 8 May 2025, people across Europe will commemorate the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.
Following the huge interest across the globe about the 80th anniversary of D-Day in June 2024, the next big WWII anniversary celebrated in the UK will be the 80th anniversary of VE Day on 8 May.
VE Day marks the end of World War II in Europe. It honours the service and sacrifice of those who fought in the war, including British, Commonwealth and Allied Forces. The day marks the date of the formal acceptance by the allies of WWII, of Germany’s unconditional surrender on Tuesday 8 May 1945. This marked the official end of the war in Europe.
Russia and some former Soviet countries celebrate on 9 May, as Germany's unconditional surrender entered into force at 23:01 on 8 May Central European Summer Time; this corresponded with 00:01 on 9 May in Moscow Time.
For the Taxi Charity, which has been supporting veterans who served in WWII for 77 years, this will be another wonderful opportunity to honour those who gave so much for our freedom.
Colin Mills, Chairman of the Taxi Charity, said: “As a charity which is wholly reliant on grants and donations, fundraising is always in the forefront of our plans, as we are continually checking the balance sheet with concerns that we won’t have the funds to continue our work with veterans. For the 80th anniversary of D-Day, charity volunteer Susy Goodwin designed a wonderful logo that was used on badges, keyrings and t-shirts to raise much needed funds. For VE Day, she has designed another logo which we hope will also help with our fundraising.”
The history of using ‘V’ during the war began in 1941, when Belgian refugee Victor de Laveleye proposed the 'V' symbol as a symbol of resistance. He broadcast that the letter 'V' should become a resistance emblem standing for “Victoire”, victory in French. It also conveniently worked for “Vrijeid”, freedom in Dutch, and “Viktoria”, victory in German. People began scrawling 'V' graffiti across occupied countries. Someone also realised that the Morse Code symbol for V, ‘dot dot dot dash’, is the same rhythm as Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and the music became part of the victory movement.
The BBC launched a "V for Victory" campaign, and the symbol was used on badges, walls and other items, and Winston Churchill became a prominent user of the symbol, making it with his hand and urging citizens to do the same.
Susy Goodwin, Taxi Charity volunteer, said: “When I was looking at this design, I took into account how important the ‘V for Victory’ symbol had been throughout the war. With that in mind, I wanted to incorporate the Morse Code for V. The Morse code for the letter "V" is three dots and a dash, and as 'V' was used during World War II to represent freedom, resistance and victory, it seemed very fitting to add it to the design. What I also particularly liked is that this Morse Code pattern is also the same as the opening notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. This stirring piece of music was used before every news broadcast and people were encouraged to use ‘V’ whenever they could, including on envelopes and stationery.”
Taxi Charity badges, key rings and windscreen stickers will be available from the website shop: www.taxicharity.org/shop.