County Fermanagh, like many places in Northern Ireland and further afield, is liberally marked with poignant reminders of WWII.

Some local wartime sites have been explored before on these pages, like Enniskillen’s former American Army base in Lower Celtic Park, where Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight (Ike) Eisenhower addressed GI’s prior to D-Day.

Ike’s podium is long gone, but other notable locations, like the shores of Castle Archdale and Killadeas, are rich with dramatic vestiges of war.

And sadly, countless graves and memorials near and far are tragic tributes to the dead in a conflict that cost the lives of between 50 million to over 70 million military personnel and civilians around the globe.

When VE Day dawns (Victory in Europe Day) on 8th May 2020 it will be 75 years since the guns fell silent at the end of the war in Europe.

On 7th May 1945 the formal act of surrender was signed by Germany and the world celebrated on the 8th.

At 3pm Prime Minister Winston Churchill made a radio broadcast, listened to all around the UK and relayed by loudspeakers to many thousands gathered in Trafalgar Square.

Princesses Margaret and Elizabeth (now Her Majesty the Queen) mingled with the vast throng outside Buckingham Palace where King George VI and the Queen appeared eight times on the balcony.

For many the historic occasion was bitter-sweet, celebrating peace, mourning bereavement, beckoning a new future and not forgetting those still in conflict until 15th August when Japan surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending the war.

Later on VE Day Churchill gave an impromptu speech from a Whitehall Ministry balcony, telling the enormous crowd “My dear friends, this is your hour.”

By midnight an estimated 50,000 people crowded around Piccadilly Circus.

In New York huge crowds massed in Times Square.

In Paris the Champs Elysees echoed with thousands of voices singing ‘It's a Long Way to Tipperary.’

In Enniskillen the bells of St. Macartin’s Cathedral rang out, bands paraded the town, services were held in the churches, bonfires and fireworks thrilled youngsters, singing echoed afar till after midnight and “so full were some of the public houses” the Impartial reported, “ that drink was carried out to be consumed on the street.”

The day was declared a national holiday.

People spilled from their homes in and around Fermanagh’s towns and villages, congregating for community celebrations in vast volumes of noise and numbers, and at least half a dozen effigies of Hitler were burnt!

The Stars and Stripes flew in Newtownbutler; a Lisbellaw councillor brandished a placard of the vanquished German eagle under the British lion’s paw; Enniskillen’s Portora Royal School and R.U.C Depot were flood-lit; Derrygonnelly celebrated with three bands and a bonfire; Lisnaskea’s festivities continued until next morning at three o’clock and a large barrel of tar was burned on a hill outside Letterbreen.

“The conduct of the people on all these varying occasions was such that mannerliness and good humour prevailed,” the Impartial Reporter recounted, adding “in all, there was the knowledge that thanksgiving was the main note.”

Rita Hamilton from Maguiresbridge was on duty as a WAAF (Women’s Auxiliary Air Force) driver at Castle Archdale sea-plane base on VE Day.

Rita and her sister Constance, along with nine or ten other women drivers celebrated on an RAF motorboat on Lough Erne, navigated by two young RAF boatmen.

“We were so happy that everything was over.” Rita recalls, “It was an unforgettable trip.”

Close friend and fellow-WAAF veteran Frankie Hornby will be joining Rita to celebrate VE Day 75 with the children in her old school, Maguiresbridge Primary, on Thursday 7th May.

It’s the first of many events in Fermanagh’s forthcoming long-weekend of community commemorations and celebrations continuing to Sunday 10th May.

Enniskillen will be the most westerly UK location marking the enormous sacrifices that were made at home and abroad during WWII, and celebrating together, as people did 75 years ago, the arrival of peace in Europe.

Friday 8th May 2020 has been designated as a Bank Holiday by the Government, and everyone is invited to join in the town’s packed programme of events, organised for the whole community by local volunteers.

The full programme will adorn these pages in the near future - Church services of thanksgiving, pealing bells (just as they rang out peace 75 years ago), a family fun day, a sunset performance of massed bands, an Ardhowen Theatre evening of nostalgia, lights and floodlights (just as they shone 75 years ago), the only commemorative gun salute in NI, concerts, outdoor adventure activities, living-history displays and exhibitions.

You can attend Enniskillen’s events or why not organise VE Day 75 celebrations in your own area?

Further information and event ideas are at www.veday75.org