Submissions call out for VE Day exhibition

An exhibition of letters and documents from VE Day is being set up in a collaborative project between BBC Local Radio in the Midlands and the National Memorial Arboretum.

Displays will be unveiled ahead of 8 May 2025 celebrations to mark 80 years since that day, which brought an end to World War Two in Europe.

The BBC and the National Memorial Arboretum are appealing for items to be submitted from families' archives.

The exhibition will open on 3 May and run until 16 November at the arboretum, in Alrewas, Staffordshire, and will feature letters sent from the front lines and the home front.

It will include artefacts including a telegram from Bernard Morgan, a now 101-year-old veteran from Crewe.

Mr Morgan was based in Germany in May 1945 working in an intelligence unit. During his time in the war, he signed the secrecy act and was involved in code breaking.

Towards the end of hostilities he received a telegram telling him the war was about to end, but was barred from sharing the news until days later.

"On the 6th May [1945] we were told not to advise anybody that the war would be over," he said.

"On VE Day I was with my unit at a small place in Germany called Schneverdingen. I received a telegram saying the war in Germany would finish in two days' time."

Mr Morgan said he was "so pleased" to receive the news and "we all wanted to get back home, but it didn't happen overnight".

If you have any letters or documents, specifically from around the end of the war, BBC Local Radio would love to hear from you.

Submissions are open now and close on 28 March at 23:00 GMT. More details can be found here.

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