'We celebrated but we had remorse as well'

"We did think of the casualties... and we were thinking why them and not me?"

Three men from Devon and Cornwall have recalled their memories of their service during World War Two on the 80th anniversary of VE Day.

Former Scout Car Commander Max Embury, from Newton Abbot, said he remembered "throwing our hats into the air and jumping for joy".

"In retrospect, we had a lot of remorse as well," he added.

Recalling the final moments of the war in Europe, Mr Embury said he had seen his sergeant fatally injured by Hitler Youth snipers in Germany operating from a church tower and they had ordered the six young men inside to be killed.

A short time later he said a message came over the airwaves announcing the end of the conflict on the Continent.

"In retrospect, we had a lot of remorse as well, and we did think of the casualties that we had suffered, the young men that we had left behind who would never go home," he said.

"And we were thinking why them and not me?"

Richard Aldred, from Callington, was also in Germany on the day of the announcement.

The former tank driver said: "We couldn't believe it.

"We were warned to be careful to not walk about and keep in our vehicle.

"You get some people who don't like the idea of losing and they were prepared to die, and we were told to be alert."

In another part of Germany was Colin Young from Plymouth, who reacted to the defeat of German with a "booze up" with his comrades in the Royal Artillery.

"All the beer and the stuff that we had we started getting into it you know," he said.

"One of the blokes went over to a big farmhouse and he went into a barn on the side there to get eggs because we had heard chickens.

"The next thing we saw he was running like hell with a woman chasing him! That's the last thing I remember on that day."

Mr Young has since died at the age of 98.

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