Rapturous applause spurred on the Territorial Army volunteers for whom it has become an annual tradition to play the parts of the British liberators, Force 135. They threw sweets and fruits to the crowds, just as the liberating British troops had done 62 years before them. The Union Flag was hoisted outside the Pomme d’Or Hotel to the delight of Islanders young and old who had turned out to celebrate and commemorate. The flag was also raised at Fort Regent and outside the Tourism building at the square as a symbol of the Island’s freedom from Nazi oppression. A Second World War plane – the DC-3 Dakota from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight – made several low flypasts over the square to add to the drama and nostalgia of the occasion. Each time it flew over it was met with cheers from the jubilant crowd. Several hundred people had squeezed into Liberation Square and more were huddled around it. The event would not have been complete without the sound of Beautiful Jersey sung by Sadie Rennard, clad as ever in a white top, black trousers and a red Jersey bonnet. She sang the first verse in French while the crowd looked on in anticipation, waiting for the more familiar English verse to be sung.
