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Today, Friday May 8, marks 75 years since Victory in Europe Day, a.k.a VE Day.
On May 8, 1945 at 3pm, the day after Germany surrendered, Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that the war in Europe had come to an end.
Street parties and celebrations throughout the UK followed and people dressed in red, white and blue gathered outside the gates of Buckingham Palace as King George VI, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret greeted well wishers from the balcony (the sisters later sneaked out to celebrate with the public ).
Despite the widespread celebrations, VE Day did not mark the end of the war as many soldiers were sent to fight against Japan who had not yet surrendered.
WWII didn’t officially end until August 15, 1945, known as VJ Day, after two atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Seven and a half decades later, men’s retailer Chums has colourised old war photos, allowing them to be seen in a new light.
The images come after the retailer asked members of the public to send in their wartime photos and a selection of these have been subsequently colourised.
One of the images was submitted by Chums’ managing director Josh Rubin of his grandfather Eric Rubin in June 1944, who was getting ready to be parachuted into enemy territory in France just before D-Day.
Josh says: “My grandpa was a true gent, a very humble and modest man who always had time for his family. One of my fondest memories growing up would be spending time with him, listening to all his stories about the war and what he did for the British Army. I was fascinated with his stories and I would often try to imagine what it would be like growing up living the life he lived.
“Seeing this image change to colour brought back all these fond memories I had with him. However this time it allowed my imagination to picture his experiences on a whole new level.”
Scroll down for more before and after colourised images…
Sgnt Douglas Phillips
Edward Longrove
Ken West
William Mascall
Click through the gallery above to see a selection of colourised images from WWII.
