This year marks the 80th anniversary of VE Day and to commemorate this, Royal Mail is proud to present a special collection of stamps and collectibles telling the stories of those who served the wider war effort. Nations might wage wars, but individuals fight them. The 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War is an opportunity to acknowledge just some of the extraordinary people who helped to win the war – fighting on different fronts and in numerous campaigns, working for the war effort both at home and behind enemy lines, and volunteering from across the Commonwealth. It was the courage and dedication of these individuals, and so many more, that led to the eventual victory in 1945.
Among these individuals was Vera Lynn, a young singer from East London best known for her wartime ballads including "We’ll Meet Again" and "The White Cliffs of Dover." Touring, singing and presenting on BBC radio, and visiting military bases and hospitals in the Middle East and Asia, she became central to the maintenance of morale during the war. Known as the ‘Forces’ Sweetheart’, Vera Lynn came to symbolise the nation’s spirit in wartime.
A set of ten special stamps celebrating the courage and dedication of individuals whose actions saved lives, changed history and shaped Britain’s war effort. Each stamp features an authentic photograph of the person, capturing their wartime role. Wide Range of Contributions: Includes pilots, nurses, commandos, resistance fighters, codebreakers, engineers, and firefighters. Designed for stamp collectors and history enthusiasts alike.
GEORGE ARTHUR ROBERTS BEM, MSM (1891-1970)
George Arthur Roberts was a military veteran, activist, and firefighter during the London Blitz. Born in Trinidad, Roberts had travelled to Britain and joined the British Army, fighting on the Western Front during the First World War. Settling in South London, he was a founding member of both the British Legion and the League of Coloured Peoples.
Too old for combat in the Second World War, he was the first Black man to join the London Auxiliary Fire Service in 1938, serving bravely throughout the Blitz. Roberts was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) for bravery and for his work setting up and leading discussion and education groups in the Fire Service.
MARY MORRIS (1921-1997)
Mary Morris nursed on the home front and in mainland Europe after D-Day in 1944. Born in County Galway, Ireland, she moved to London in 1939 to train at Guy’s Hospital. Morris’s diaries describe how she nursed troops returning wet and wounded from Dunkirk, badly burnt pilots (both British and German) of the Battle of Britain, and victims of the London Blitz. Joining the nursing branch of the British Army, she travelled to Normandy in 1944, caring for casualties of the landings and describing her ward as a “multi-national microcosm of a Europe at war.” Her diaries were published in 2014.
TOMMY MACPHERSON
OBE, MC, TD, DL, CROIX DE GUERRE, LÉGION D'HONNEUR (1920-2014)
Colonel Sir Ronald Thomas (‘Tommy’) Stewart Macpherson was a Commando known for his audacious actions. These included being dropped by submarine in North Africa, where he sabotaged enemy positions before being caught. After several escape attempts from Italian camps, Macpherson was imprisoned in Austria, Germany and Poland. Escaping to Britain, he was parachuted into central France in 1944 to join with the Resistance as part of Operation Jedburgh. Destroying bridges, railways, and roads vital to the German occupation, Macpherson eventually accepted the surrender of thousands of Axis troops.
At one point, 300,000 francs (£1m today) was offered for his capture. He was later sent behind enemy lines in Italy and was on standby to fly to Japan when the end of the war came.
VIOLETTE SZABO
GC, CROIX DE GUERRE WITH STAR, MÉDAILLE DE LA RÉSISTANCE (1921-1945)
Born in Paris to British-French parents, Szabó grew up in both Picardy, France, and London. She joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service before volunteering for the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in 1942. Szabó undertook two missions to France for the SOE and was captured after a fierce gun battle in 1944. After interrogation in Paris, Szabó was transferred to Ravensbrück Concentration Camp, where she was executed alongside her comrades Denise Bloch and Lilian Rolfe in February 1945. She was 23 years old and left behind a young daughter.
Szabó was posthumously awarded the George Cross, the Croix de Guerre with Star, and the Médaille de la Résistance.
JOHN HARRISON
(1914-2020)
John Harrison served in the Royal Navy on the destroyer HMS Belfast as an Ordnance Officer responsible for maintaining ‘A’ and ‘B’ gun turrets at the front of the ship. Conditions at sea were often hard, and he was saved from being washed overboard in the Arctic Ocean only when his hand froze onto the metal handle of the turret door. When HMS Belfast was badly damaged by a magnetic mine in November 1939, John Harrison suffered two broken vertebrae in the explosion. The ship was out of action for three years, but he transferred to HMS Atherstone before undertaking shore duties.
