The proud old men and women of Force 135, the Normandy Veterans Association and their colleagues from the Atlantic Convoys followed the Jersey Caledonian Pipe Band and were given a tumultuous reception by the many hundreds of people lining the streets ahead.
They may now be mainly in their 80s, but the veterans looked resplendent in regimental blazers and ties, their campaign medals proudly pinned on their chests.
And those chests puffed out as the old soldiers and sailors acknowledged the Islanders who came to say thank you for what the servicemen had done 60 years ago in bringing back freedom to these shores after five years of Occupation.
The sun was shining and faces were beaming.
There were tears in many eyes, young and old, as the procession passed.
The veterans themselves beamed with pride as they remembered their first visit to Jersey.
However, as they gathered beforehand they spoke of other more murderous and bloody campaigns.
They remembered the D-Day landings in 1944.
They talked of lost colleagues, young men who sacrificed their lives for their country.
They talked of lost ships and they spoke of the fears they felt as they endured enemy bombing campaigns and barrages of artillery in far-off lands.
There was a smile on the face of Jimmy Green, a Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve whose 551 Flotilla landed troops in St Aubin’s Bay, when he said: ‘Some people think this was the only thing we ever did!’ Flanked by colleagues Bill Mead and Joe Palkent at the head of the procession, Mr Green said it had been a marvellous moment on 9 May 1945 to lower the troops into St Aubin’s Bay and see them get such an incredible welcome from Islanders.
The march may not have been a long one from King Street into New Cut and round into the Royal Square, but it was certainly an emotional one.
And that emotion reached a crescendo when the veterans marched into the Square to be greeted by a crowd of 2,500, who burst into applause and stood to welcome them while singing the hymn Praise My Soul, The King Of Heaven.
The Lieut-Governor, Air Chief Marshal Sir John Cheshire, took the salute as the veterans passed and made their way to seats on the Halkett Place side of the square.
The audience in the square was colourful and in celebratory mood.
Some Islanders had dressed in clothing from the 1940s, and Jersey and Union flags were waved to show the Islanders’ patriotism.
The Liberation Thanksgiving Service that followed was being broadcast live on national and international television networks.
Before the arrival of the veterans in the square there had been a procession from Church House featuring schoolchildren, special guest Terry Waite, the clergy who were to conduct the service, the Lieut-Governor and the Bailiff, Sir Philip Bailhache.
The welcome was given by the Dean of Jersey, the Very Rev John Seaford.
He told everyone how welcome they were to be at the service and he recalled how the cessation of hostilities in Europe had brought his own father home from war.
However, he asked the congregation to remember that freedom was still not universal today in many parts of the world and that tyranny still blighted the lives of people somewhere.
‘We who can must do what we can to challenge injustice wherever and whenever we can,’ he said.
He asked the congregation to remember in prayer those who lived through the Occupation and Liberation, those who were evacuated, those who had been imprisoned, those who served and those who died for their country.
The Superintendent Minister of the Jersey Methodist Church, the Rev David Coote, led an Act of Forgiveness.
He said: ‘As we look back to the Occupation and Liberation of Jersey, we are aware of our failings as a community to live up to the blessings of peace, freedom and friendship.’ Following the singing of the hymn Dear Lord and Father of Mankind, Marjorie Guilliard of the Jersey Baptist Church gave the reading from the book of Luke, chapter four, verses 16 to 21.
Schoolchildren from four schools then acted out tableaux of different stories about the Occupation wearing the costume of the time.
St Peter School youngsters Chantelle Tucker supported by Rebecca Knights and Esther Le Ruez told the story of Living Under Occupation.
Among the tales narrated by Chantelle was of a youngster hearing what she thought was fireworks at First Tower and rushing outside to be greeted by the sight of Russian slave workers.
The ‘fireworks’ were in fact the sound of whips being cracked above their heads.
Grouville School followed and performed sign language as the Royal Square sang Dame Vera Lynn’s wartime classic We’ll Meet Again, before St George’s Prep School pupils told the Evacuees’ Story.
Narrated by Hermoine Bell and supported by James Voss, Meulle Smith, Hermoine Pratt, William Johnson and Robert Jones, the story was about the dilemma facing the Larbalestier family as they decided whether or not to leave the Island to avoid the Occupation.
The Cantabile Ensemble choir performed Nunc Dimittis in A Flat by Orlando Gibbons, before the girls from Beaulieu School told the Prisoners’ Story.
This was about a young Islander who together with her family ended up as a PoW in the Biberach internment camp in Germany.
It was narrated by Julia Le Cornu and the role of deportees was carried out by Rebecca Orbell, Sophie Moore, Lauren Hucker.
Danielle Newton, Sophie Matlock and Samantha Tate.
An excellent rendition on the harp was given by Evangeline Wavell, of the piece Midnight Stars by Jane Weidensaur before the final tableau of the Serviceman’s Story by pupils from Rouge Bouillon.
Narrator Chad Wood was supported by Sophie Hayes, Jonathan O’Halloran, Charlie Adams, Shawn Channing, Rebecca Houghton and Michelle Quintal.
This was the story of a young Islander who went to war with his pal Johnny.
The end of war brought joy and sadness.
He learned of Johnny’s death but his return to Jersey was joyous and the atmosphere was amazing on Liberation Day as he told how a group of them got up on to the balcony of the Pomme d’Or and unfurled the Union flag.
After the hymn Make Me a Channel of Your Peace, special guest Terry Waite, the former envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury, gave the Address.
Mr Waite went to Beirut in January 1987 to negotiate the release of several hostages being held there, but he ended up a hostage himself and was held captive for 1,760 days before being released in November 1991.
He asked the congregation to remember those who had lived through the Occupation, those who had been evacuated and those who had been taken prisoner.
He noted that the sole surviving prisoner of ‘those terrible concentration camps’ was a resident of this Island.
Mr Waite saluted the courage and dignity of Islanders and then tried to give an insight into what life is like to live without liberty.
He told of captivity and becoming a victim of political duplicity.
He told of his detention in an underground cell with no natural light and no companionship.
He told of three years with hands and feet shackled to a wall and no access to books or papers.
He told of the mental and physical effects and of how he saw himself growing old and watching himself disintegrate mentally and physically.
Although he said it was easy to become depressed, he quickly learned that to survive, he had to take an inner journey, one in which he learned that everyone is ‘a complex mixture of light and dark’.
‘Not one of us can say that we always walk in the light,’ said Mr Waite.
Relating this experience to the Occupation, he added: ‘It was an event that we shouldn’t forget and it has marked people who endured it and has marked the Island.
People have endured it bravely, but it has a corrupting influence on all’.
Mr Waite noted that ‘some people may have failed to meet the highest standards that we think ought to have been met’ but he said: ‘We cannot condemn.
In warfare, hundreds of men and women are drawn into situations that perhaps they would not enter if they had a choice.’ In the face of his captors, his faith allowed him to think that they might have had the power to break his body and to bend his mind, but not to take his soul.
He urged Islanders to look back with gratitude and forgiveness and look forward with hope to the future.
The hymn To God Be The Glory followed, before prayers led by the Roman Catholic Dean, Canon Nicholas France.
In his short address, he asked that God bless and guide members of Jersey’s government to advance the cause of equality in society.
He spoke of the important role of the Red Cross in the last year of the Second World War, when the SS Vega came to feed starving Islanders, and he asked for the blessing of the work of the Red Cross around the world today.
After the prayers for peace and the peacekeepers came the moment that many Islanders had been waiting for.
Through speakers, the Royal Square heard part of the address Sir Winston Churchill gave to the UK Parliament on 8 May 1945 when he announced Germany’s unconditional surrender ‘Hostilities will end officially at one minute after midnight tonight, Tuesday, 8 May, but in the interests of saving lives the ceasefire began yesterday to be sounded all along the fronts.
. .
and our dear Channel Islands are also to be freed today.’ This prompted a round of applause and much flag waving from the crowd in the square before Jurat the Hon Coutanche rose to deliver the speech which is father, Sir Alexander Coutanche, the Bailiff of Jersey of the day, had delivered from the States Building 60 years earlier.
Sir Alexander had begun by saying that it had been five years since he had addressed Islanders and he asked them to join him in thanking the Almighty for delivering the Island through the years of Occupation.
After speaking of plans for the release of political prisoners and prisoners of war held in the Island, the warime Bailiff informed the rejoicing Islanders that British cruisers and destroyers were on their way to Jersey to accept the surrender.
He appealed for Islanders to remain ‘calm and dignified’, as they had been throughout the Occupation – that being a quality that marked the nation.
And he finished by saying: ‘I would like to come down into the Square and to be among you.’ Again there were cheers.
The National Anthem was played by Her Majesty’s Royal Marine Band Plymouth and Jersey sang along.
The Blessing was given by the Dean of Jersey before the final hymn, Thine Be The Glory, Risen Conqu’ring Son’.
With the official service over, the Royal Marines continued to play and the flags continued to wave, the sun continued to shine and the smiles were broad.
Those who experienced the events of the afternoon will never forget them.
And nor should they.
