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Harold Devenport鈥檚 VE Day has a romantic element to it, because it was in Colchester, at the town鈥檚 Corn Exchange for a dance with his wife Rose 鈥� the same place where he鈥檇 suggested they get married three years earlier.

鈥淚 was in the Royal Air Force with 601 (County of London) Squadron in Italy. On that day, I was on disembarkation leave. I鈥檇 been married three years and three months and I don鈥檛 think I鈥檇 spent a month with my wife. So we were away in Colchester, as her father lived in Colchester.

鈥淲e got up quite early; half past eight I suppose, and then we went out in to Colchester. We didn鈥檛 know what was going on (but) the town was alive, only we realised in the end it was VE Day.

鈥淓verybody was hugging everybody, the old ladies were hugging you if you were in uniform and of course the men were hugging my wife as well!鈥�

Colchester Council had put on a dance at the town鈥檚 Corn Exchange.

鈥淚 spent t the next five hours dancing. Everybody was happy, hugging everybody, kissing everybody; I got more kisses that night than I did the rest of my life! There was a sense of relief. Everybody seemed happy that there were no more bombs coming.鈥�

The war might have been over in Europe but it was still going on in the Pacific and wouldn鈥檛 finish there until August.

And that meant for Harold and Rose Devenport, the future was still on hold. Harold still had to be de-mobbed from the Air Force and Rose was still with the Women鈥檚 Royal Air Force, where she was a telegraphist, spending time at the Bletchley Park code-breaking centre.

鈥淲e couldn鈥檛 do anything like that (plan for the future). I was still in the Air Force, she was still in the Air Force and at the end of that leave, and we had to part. Although fortunately, I did have a wife who was a good saver, and we had plenty of money when the time came.鈥�

Image: Harold Davenport

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