Littlehampton’s VE Day poem winner revealed: read the victorious entry

To mark the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe on Friday, Littlehampton Town Council asked residents to write a poem.

Entries were judged by local writers Daphne Belt, Margaret Inglis and Sarah Higbee.

Daphne said: “It was a to joy read the poems, every one a delight and it was great exercise for my tear ducts.”

David Jordan won with his entry, called ‘VE Day, Tommy, My family and Me’ – one of his first-ever poems.

Runners-up were Pauline Latter with ‘V.E. Day Celebrations’ and Elana Healy with ‘War Won, Country Lost’.

He said: “This is the first piece I have entered, it was a brilliant result and it has encouraged me to write more.

“It always struck me that we celebrated VE Day but it was really only the end of one part of the war, the far Middle East was still going on and for those who fought the war it mentally was never over.”

Here is the winning poem:

VE Day, Tommy, My Family and Me

Hurrah. Hurrah have you heard the news?

No more bombing, no more V ones or V twos.

Now Britain is safe again, the war is over

The people rejoicing from Dundee to Dover.

They are singing and dancing out on the street

Hugging and kissing everyone they meet,

Bring out your tables, your chairs and some food

We’re having a street party to celebrate the mood.

So, with jelly and cake, we all had such fun

As we revelled in the defeat of the Hun

But amidst all the gaiety and the bunting flying

I saw one of my pals sitting alone and crying.

‘What’s up Tommy?’ I asked my young chum

‘The war is over, why are you looking so glum?’

As he replied in a sad, quiet murmur

‘My dad’s still fighting, somewhere in Burma.’

Although I felt for my pal in my young boyish way

Nothing was going to diminish my joy that day.

So, we partied on; especially auntie Mabel

Kicking off her shoes and dancing on the table.

But it wasn’t long before the awful truth was learned

That the men who fought were changed when they returned

And although I wanted to hear of tales of battle and glory

My dad could never speak of his wartime story