Brits are to get a new bank holiday next year to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War – with a bumper four-day weekend planned.
The major celebration will be marking the heroics of the ‘Greatest Generation’ who fought against Hitler and the Nazis in Europe and Africa, and Imperial Japan in Asia.
And as part of a bumper year of events, a four-day jamboree will reportedly be staged either in May or August.
No decision has yet been made on which date will host the celebration, but an announcement is expected imminently, according to the Express.
May 8 marks Victory in Europe Day, when the Allies accepted Nazi Germany‘s unconditional surrender, while August 15 marks the day Japan surrendered, effectively ending the Second World War.
It’s understood plans are being discussed by the Government which could see May 9 and May 12 wiped free to allow nationwide celebrations – or August 22 added to the traditional summer bank holiday on August 25 to create a four-day weekend.
It’s hoped the dates will provide the nation a landmark opportunity to pay tribute to remaining Second World War heroes still alive today.
While millions of people served in the war, precious few are alive in 2024, with about 70,000 people who fought between 1939 to 1945 remaining today, with some appearing in Normandy earlier this year to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
And as numbers of the Greatest Generation continue to dwindle, it is thought this will be the last major opportunity for people to give their thanks directly to those who fought in the Second World War.
Geoff Roberts, 99, a veteran of Operation Market Garden, said: ‘I think it’s very important in these current times we remember those that gave their lives for our freedom and peace in Europe.
‘We should never forget them. Maybe an extra bank holiday will help to remind people about what’s happened in the past.’
Marie Scot, 98, was 17 on D-Day and worked in a secret underground bunker passing coded messages from military top brass to their troops landing on the beaches – all while hearing the battle as it raged on the beaches and Normandy.
Speaking of the next year’s bank holiday celebrations, she told the Express: ‘An additional bank holiday would be an opportunity to thank all those wonderful people who made such a spectacular victory possible because, without them, the future could have been very dire indeed.’
During this year’s 80th commemorations of D-Day, King Charles paid tribute to the ‘remarkable wartime generation‘ who made the ultimate sacrifice to keep the world safe from tyranny.
Speaking to commemorate the veterans in Normandy, he expressed his ‘profound sense of gratitude’ for the men and woman ‘who did not flinch when the moment came to face that test’.
The monarch, who has this year faced a battle against cancer, described the ‘supreme test’ faced by the troops, in reference to the speech made by his grandfather, George VI, who broadcast to the nation 80 years ago: ‘Once more a supreme test has to be faced. This time the challenge is not to fight to survive, but to fight to win the final victory for the good cause.’
He also spoke of the importance of remembering what the War taught us: ‘We recall the lesson that comes to us again and again across the decades: Free nations must stand together to oppose tyranny.’
During his passionate speech at the British Normandy Memorial where the names of 22,442 heroes who died are etched, the monarch hailed the generation for being the ones who ‘did not flinch’ when the moment to act came.
He closed: ‘Our gratitude is unfailing and our admiration eternal.’
Eight decades on, The Many are now The Few, with the youngest veterans of the war now in their late 90s.
Only 44 veterans were still fit and well enough to return to the beaches to honour the 22,442 killed under British command between June and August, 1944.
Other recent one-off bank holidays have also been held in summer.
The late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee was celebrated between June 2 and 5, while the day of her funeral, September 19, was also made a bank holiday.
In May 2020, communities across the UK came out to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, with neighbours staging socially distanced street parties amid the height of the Covid 19 pandemic.
Three years later, in May 2023, street parties were once again held to mark the Coronation of King Charles.
And in June 2022, Brits enjoyed a bumper series of bank holiday celebrations as part of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee bonanza.
