VE Day

This weekend we celebrated 75 years since the the World War II ended in Europe.  

Tom Moore, an Englishman serving in the Merchant Navy in WWII, was in Malta on 8th May 1945.

"On 8th May 1945 the Sunderland (a Merchant Navy ship) was anchored in Valetta, Malta. This was VE Day and a few rounds were being let off to celebrate the end of the war in Europe. I got out a rocket pistol and thought I'd fire off a few rockets for the fireworks but after a couple of rounds there was an explosion and I could see that my left hand, which had been around the barrel of the pistol was in a pretty bad way. I called out to my mate George Payne to row me over to the hospital. We jumped into a jollyboat which luckily was tied up alongside and George rowed me over to the hospital nearby. I hardly noticed at the time, but Blitz my dog jumped into the boat as well and came with us. Well I ended up in the operating theatre in double quick time and one of the last things I remember before waking up in bed with my hand amputated, was the Royal Navy surgeon shouting 'What's that dog doing in here? Get him out quick"."