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State for Defence. John Healy, good morning to you on this very special commemorative
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day, Minister. Can I ask, on a personal level, what you're feeling today
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Well, good morning. This is the culmination of a week of events in which we sort of mark
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the courage and the sacrifice of what was undoubtedly Britain's greatest generation
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and it's a moment to remember the debt we owe them, a debt that we today can't ever repay
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but we honour it by remembering their sacrifice and learning the lessons for the future
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And this will be an extraordinary day of events for an extraordinary generation
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A Thanksgiving service in the Westminster Abbey behind me, led by the King and the Prime Minister
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a concert just across the Parliament Square for 15,000 people. this evening, and I really want to say a big thank you
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to all those behind the scenes that have made the street parties, the parades, the services, the celebrations of this very special day
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80 years on from the end of the war in Europe, possible for us all to enjoy
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And, Mr Healy, in terms of remembering the greatest generation, I'm sure you have been very alarmed by two studies out this week
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one poll suggesting that more than half of Brits would not fight for the UK under any circumstance And a second study out this week that two thirds of 18 to 24 year olds couldn tell you what VE Day is
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How do we ensure that those sacrifices made by the greatest generation are never forgotten
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How do we fix this? we ensure that their sacrifices aren't forgotten and the lessons are learned by
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remembering what they gave fighting for our freedom and our the future of our country and
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by recognizing that freedom isn't free and that we have again war in europe it's why britain
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in public and in parliament is standing so strong behind ukraine but i just don't recognize that
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description you know of many young people. A million young people in the last decade
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applied to join the armed forces. Three quarters of them unfortunately just gave up on those
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applications before they were rejected or they were recruited. That's why we're overhauling
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the recruitment system so that our armed forces get the talent that we need for the future. And
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in the end, one of the lessons from that Second World War that we mark today is that that was a
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a war that was won by all, not just those in uniform, but by the country as a whole
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As Winston Churchill said 80 years ago today, this is a great victory of the whole nation
