Britons will have a new bank holiday next year to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, with a bumper four-day weekend planned.
The main celebration will mark the heroic acts of the “Greatest Generation” who fought against Hitler and the Nazis in Europe and Africa, and Imperial Japan in Asia.
And as part of a big year of events, a four-day festival will reportedly be organized in May or August.
The date for the celebration has not yet been decided, but an announcement is expected imminently, according to the Express.
May 8 marks Victory in Europe Day, when the Allies accepted Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender, while August 15 marks the day Japan surrendered, effectively ending World War II.
The Government is understood to be discussing plans which could scrap May 9 and 12 to allow celebrations across the country, or add August 22 to the traditional summer bank holiday on August 25 to create a four-week weekend. days.
The dates are expected to provide the nation with a historic opportunity to pay tribute to World War II heroes still living today.
While millions served in the war, very few will be alive in 2024: around 70,000 people who fought between 1939 and 1945 remain today, and some appeared in Normandy earlier this year to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
A new bank holiday is planned where communities could come together to organize street parties to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War (pictured: Gosport, Hampshire, partying over the Coronation bank holiday King).
Londoners celebrate VE Day in 1945, when Nazi Germany surrendered and finally ended the war in Europe.
Ronald Hendrey salutes as he visits the gravestone of a comrade at Bayeux War Cemetery on June 5 this year. He is one of the few World War II veterans who was able to attend the D-Day event.
And as the number of members of the Greatest Generation continues to decline, it is believed this will be the last great opportunity for people to give their thanks directly to those who fought in World War II.
Geoff Roberts, 99, a veteran of Operation Market Garden, said: “I think it is very important that in these times we remember those who gave their lives for our freedom and peace in Europe.”
‘We should never forget them. “Maybe an extra bank holiday will help remind people of what happened in the past.”
Marie Scot, 98, was 17 on D-Day and working in a secret underground bunker passing coded messages from top military brass to her troops landing on the beaches, all while listening to the battle unfold on the beaches of Normandy. .
Speaking about next year’s holiday celebrations, he told the Express: “An extra holiday would be an opportunity to thank all those wonderful people who made such a spectacular victory possible because, without them, the future could have been very terrible indeed. “.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman told reporters today: “The 80th anniversaries of VE and VJ Day will be moments of great importance for our country, where we will come together to honor the memory of those who served, the legacy they left behind and what they we should.” them.
“We are committed to appropriately commemorating these important occasions nationally, which is why we have announced more than £10 million for events to mark them… these plans do not include an additional bank holiday, but we will look to use the existing bank holiday at the beginning of May for commemorative events.”
Asked if this meant there would not be two extra days off to mark war anniversaries, as reported, he added: “Correct.”
During this year’s 80 D-Day commemorations, King Charles paid tribute to the “remarkable wartime generation” who made the ultimate sacrifice to keep the world safe from tyranny.
King Charles paid tribute to the “remarkable wartime generation” who made the ultimate sacrifice to keep the world safe from tyranny on the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
In his speech to commemorate D-Day veterans in Normandy in June, he expressed his “deep sense of gratitude” for the men and women “who did not flinch when the time came to face that test.”
Geoff Roberts, 99, was a hero of Operation Market Garden. He welcomed the new festive plans to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
Marie, 98, was 17 on D-Day and working in a secret underground bunker passing coded messages from commanders to their troops on the beaches of Normandy.
Military aircraft fly over Arromanches beach in Normandy as they fly over the northern coast of France to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day in June.
Four-year-old Poppie Stacey is seen waving a Union flag during the 75th anniversary celebrations marking VE Day in May 2020.
This house in Cambridgeshire was illuminated with the royal family and Winston Churchill to mark VE Day during the last major commemoration of 2020.
Second World War veteran Len Gibbon, 96, watches a Spitfire fly over the Care for Veterans site in Worthing, Sussex, to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day in 2020.
Pictured are Jane and Toby Lyde outside their home in Tooting on the 75th anniversary of VE Day, London 2020.
Speaking to commemorate veterans in Normandy, he expressed his “deep sense of gratitude” for the men and women “who did not flinch when the time came to face that test.”
The monarch, who this year has faced a battle against cancer, described the “supreme test” that the troops faced, in reference to the speech of his grandfather, George VI, which he transmitted to the nation 80 years ago: “A Once again, we must face the supreme test. This time the challenge is not to fight to survive, but to fight to achieve final victory for a good cause.’
He also spoke of the importance of remembering what the war taught us: “We remember the lesson we received again and again throughout the decades: free nations must stand united to oppose tyranny.”
During his impassioned speech at the British Memorial in Normandy, where the names of 22,442 heroes who died are engraved, the monarch praised the generation for being the ones who “didn’t flinch” when the time came to act.
He concluded: ‘Our gratitude is inexhaustible and our admiration eternal.’
Eight decades later, The Many are now The Few, and the youngest war veterans are in their 90s.
Only 44 veterans were still fit and well enough to return to the beaches to honor the 22,442 under British command who died between June and August 1944.
Other recent specific holidays have also been celebrated in summer.
The late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee was celebrated between June 2 and 5, while the day of her funeral, September 19, was also declared a holiday.
In May 2020, communities across the UK came out to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, with residents hosting socially distanced street parties amid the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Three years later, in May 2023, street parties were held again to mark the Coronation of King Charles.
And in June 2022, Britons were treated to a bumper series of Christmas celebrations as part of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee bonanza.