This Was Their Hour...
On May 8, 1945 over the airwaves, Churchill announced the end of WWII. Making his way to Whitehall and onto the balcony of the flag draped Ministry of Health he made a stirring speech to the nation.
"This is your hour. This is not victory of a party or of any class. It's a victory of the great British nation as a whole... We were all alone for over two years...the lights went out and bombs came down. But every man, woman and child in the country had no thought of quitting the struggle...
... we must begin the task of rebuilding our hearth and homes, doing our utmost to make this country a land in which to have a chance, in which all have a duty, and we must turn ourselves to fulfill our duty to our own countrymen, and to our gallant allies of the United States who were so foully and treacherously attacked by Japan.
We will go hand in hand with them."
Edgar Whitehead flung open the doors to Rhodesia House. All Rhodesians gravitated there. His Administration Officer, Baggott, managed to obtain several barrels of beer. At one stage Edgar counted six Rhodesian Group Captains in the bar, none of whom had been in the RAF before the war. The only outside visitors were from New Zealand House, nearly opposite, as there was a long-standing alliance between the Rhodesians and the New Zealanders serving in Britain.
It was a wonderful day for all, only clouded by the thought of those who had not lived to see the victory won.
In particular, acutely, Edgar mourned the huge loss of his brother Arthur killed in action bombing the oil tanks at Rotterdam in an Anson in the RAF's Coastal Command. Of all his brothers, they had had the closest relationship, with no secrets from each other. Arthur had been lame from early childhood polio and had overcome greater physical handicaps than him to get into the RAF. Having recounted many a close shave to him, his death had not come as a surprise.
He also missed John MacDonald intensely. He had been his Witchwood assistant, hunting friend, and companion on the voyage back to England on the French liner. They had kept touch before their deployments. John was killed at his first posting as a Commissioned Officer with the Commandos during the Dieppe Raid.
A special toast was made to those Rhodesians who were still fighting the Japanese.
The historical novel Whitewashed Jacarandas and its sequel Full of Possibilities are both available on Amazon as paperbacks and eBooks.
These books are inspired by Diana's family's experiences in small town Southern Rhodesia after WWII.
Dr. Sunny Rubenstein and his Gentile wife, Mavourneen, along with various town characters lay bare the racial arrogance of the times, paternalistic idealism, Zionist fervor and anti-Semitism, the proper place of a wife, modernization versus hard-won ways of doing things, and treatment of endemic disease versus investment in public health. It's a roller coaster read.
References:
- Sir Edgar Whitehead's Unpublished Memoirs, Rhodes House, Bodleian Library, Oxford University, by permission.
- Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons, sourced from the collections of the Imperial War Museums. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ve_Day_Celebrations_in_London,_England,_UK,_8_May_1945_D24587.jpg
