Shirley Entwistle’s Story

Coming down the stairs in her pyjamas that morning the family were sat round the table with a photo of Shirley’s brother, John Collinge in the middle of the table: “They were all crying” she recalls. “And that really upset me.”

Shirley, like many people this VE Day, will be remembering those that gave their lives in World War Two. She was too young to remember much about the announcement of victory in Europe on 8 May 1945. However, she kept letters her older brother, John, sent to her during his time in the trenches, which paint a vivid picture.

“We always wrote back to him; me and my sister – we were always thrilled when the letters came and we couldn’t wait to read it. We did get a letter, my mother and father (did), saying that he didn’t think he would come home again.”

Shirley’s memories of VE Day were of children outside waving flags but her outstanding memory is still the last letter the family received regarding John.

“We had a telegram to say he’d been killed in action.” But she remembers feeling more upset at her family’s reaction at the time.

“It made me very upset because I didn’t see him like they did – because he was in the war – he was a brother, and it was upsetting to see them all crying.”

Image: John's letters that Shirley has kept to this day