Churches Lead World War II Services of Remembrance to Mark 60th Anniversary

This Sunday, Britain will remember the lives lost during World War II in a service of prayer and thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey, marking the 60th anniversary of the end of the war.

The remembrance weekend falls between the 60th anniversaries of Victory in Europe Day in May and Victory in Japan Day in August. Among the bellringers who will be firing the bells at the church have also rang for VE and VJ day back in 1945. The service will be aired from the Abbey on BBC1 and BBC Radio 4 FM from 11am

Upon the arrival of the Queen, all ten of the bells in the Abbey will be rung in honour and victims of the war will be commemorated by the tenor bell. At 5pm, the churches will be led by the bells in a celebratory peal through out the country.

Special Books of Remembrance in which personal reminscences of the War and names of the loved ones have been written by the public, will be offered in prayer at the High Altar by the Dean, the Very Rev Michael Sadgrove. A votive candle can be lit by people at the window which acts as the Cathedral’s war memorial.

"I think all of us who survived the war will wish to reflect and give thanks for its conclusion and the freedom that was brought by our comrades who did not return," said Gil Thompson, an 82-year-old Airborne veteran who served with the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.

Representatives of the War Widows Association will join senior figures from the three armed services at the servic at Salisbury Cathedral. The colours and standards of the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regimental Association (RGBW) will be presented.