Police and Crime Commissioner, Philip Wilkinson, joined with veterans, residents and officers from Wiltshire Police in Melksham to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day.

"I will say a special thank-you prayer to my now deceased parents, Able Seaman ‘Black Jack’ Wilkinson RN and Corporal Beryl Spires WRAF and all those of their generation who fought in WW2.

My parents met in Plymouth when Dad was on shore leave from Atlantic convoys and Mum was in charge of a barrage balloon that was flown over the docks to deter German bombers.

My father was a ‘scouse’ and they settled in Liverpool after the war, where I was born. Although the family moved south to Newbury in search of work in 1956, I remember the devastation of the bomb sites in Liverpool and how tough life was with food rationing and little money.

Our first house in Newbury, a two up and two down farm cottage, that had a small open coal fire, gas lighting, an outside stand-pipe for water and a shared outside toilet. We eventually moved into a council house, which we thought a palace.

Even when I joined the army, in 1967 we did not have a home phone and I would exchange weekly letters with my parents from Malaya where I was first posted with the commandos.

How things have changed.  

As we are about to lose the very last veterans who fought in the war, I suspect it will not be long before we lose those who remember their spirit and how tough life was for two generations after the war; before today’s age of mobile phones, social media, take-away food and the demand for instant self-indulgent gratification.

I am extremely proud of my parents and my country, and will be ever grateful for the sacrifices that they made for their four children. Unfortunately, it is depressing to say, but I see very little of their selflessness and sacrifice in today’s society.

The 8th May is a special day of thanks and remembrance, for most of us, a celebration of our country and of a victory of good over evil".

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