LIBERTY

Today the Bailiwick of Guernsey will celebrate the 75th Anniversary of its liberation from German occupation during the Second World War.

This year’s festivities, however, will be very different from previous ones as the island remains in lockdown due to coronavirus.

There will be no communal events, parades or street parties but, instead, a socially-distanced, quiet remembrance of challenging times overcome.

On Liberation Day our thoughts turn to those who endured the Occupation of the islands and to the many children who were evacuated to the UK shortly before the enemy invaded. 

Less often, we remember those who failed to survive the dreadful years of fear, hunger and oppression.

They are the subject of today’s Liberation Day poem.  

THE NINTH OF MAY  

We join hands to celebrate the Ninth of May

as our forefathers did on Liberation Day

when, all those years ago, the foe, in disarray,

stood hang-dog in their uniforms of leaden grey.

Not all our island population, sad to say,

survived those dreadful years for some fell prey

to hunger or disease and passed away. 

Let us, with pride, remember them today, for they,

so bravely, nearly made it all the way

to Guernsey’s Liberation Day, the Ninth of May.

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