In remembrance
We have today revealed images of a set of 12 new Special Stamps to be issued to mark the end of the Second World War.
Eight stamps depict scenes of celebration by service personnel and civilians when news of the conflict’s end was announced. Also featured are images of personnel returning from overseas, as well as the return of children evacuated from major cities.
The eight images were originally photographed in black and white, but have been brought to life in colour for the first time by colourist, Royston Leonard.
The eight stamps depict:
- A serviceman returning home to Oreston, South Devon, from his airbase in Lincolnshire
- Jubilant nurses celebrating VE Day in Liverpool
- Ecstatic crowds celebrating VE Day in London’s Piccadilly
- Evacuees returning home to London after a wartime stay in Leicester
- Troops marching along Oxford St, London, during a parade for the ‘Victory over Japan’ exhibition in August 1945
- Soldiers and sailors leaving a demobilisation centre carrying their civilian clothes in boxes
- Allied prisoners of war at Aomori Camp near Yokohama, Japan, cheering their rescuers
- A Wren (member of the Women’s Royal Naval service) proposing a toast during the VE Day celebrations in Glasgow.
Four additional stamps presented in a Miniature Sheet show images of official monuments and cemeteries built to remember and honour the fallen as well as a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.
For this stamp issue, we worked closely with: Imperial War Museums (IWM); the Commonwealth War Graves Commission; the National Maritime Museum; and the Association of Wrens. The following experts were also consulted:Professor Richard Overy of Exeter University and military historian, Iain Ballantyne.
Stamp strategy manager, Philip Parker, said: ‘Our new stamps capture how the end of the war was greeted and the resulting return of service personnel after nearly six long years of conflict. We also pay tribute to those who never returned, and the victims of the Holocaust.’
The full range of stamps, and other collectible products, are available to pre-order now from www.royalmail.com/endofsecondworldwar and by phone on 03457 641 641. The stamps will be available on general sale from Friday 8 May.
