I don’t remember we in the United States celebrating Victory in Europe (VE) Day every 8th of May. Perhaps it was done, but not very memorably, or I would have remembered it. But it’s a much bigger thing in the United Kingdom.

About 2.3 million US soldiers were deployed to the European Theater during World War II, and around 250,000 died as a result of warfare there. But the United States was never at any time faced with a real threat to its existence, and the only US territory that was actually captured by enemy forces were Guam and Wake islands, in the Pacific, and the remote Alaskan islands of Attu and Kiska. As Japanese Admiral Yamamoto told his military leadership, there was no practical chance that Japan could actually conquer the United States, or even force a surrender. The best they could hope for was a peace treaty. Likewise, there was no chance that the other Axis powers, Germany and Italy, could invade the US or force its surrender. But for the United Kingdom it was a different matter entirely.

The war in Europe was a genuine threat to the existence of the United Kingdom, and first and foremost that threat came from the European continent. While some UK troops did fight in the Pacific Theater, the vast majority of UK battle deaths occurred in Europe. With a population of less than 50 million, 383,700 UK military members lost their lives in the war, and over 67,000 civilians died as well, most in enemy air attacks. Until the successful Allied invasion of France in June 1944, the United Kingdom stood at all times in some danger of invasion by Germany, with a credible danger of actually losing the war. As a consequence of that danger, and a genuine fear of invasion that stood in the hearts of all Britons, the victory in Europe is today, 80 years later, still remembered and celebrated, even though there are very few citizens left still living from that time. Still fewer are the last surviving UK military members, which in 2024 was estimated to be 70,000.

The majority of British civilians to die in World War II were killed in The Blitz, also known as the Battle of Britain, when the German Luftwaffe attempted to bomb the United Kingdom into submitting to a peace settlement, or as preparation for an invasion. It was the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces. Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave a speech in August 1940, in which he praised the members of the Royal Air Force, which was greatly outnumbered by the Luftwaffe in both aircraft and pilots, as “The Few.”

Just a few days before this he had been visiting the No. 11 Group RAF operations room during the day of a battle, where at one point every squadron in the group was engaged while more waves of German planes were crossing the coast. When he and General Ismay, his chief military assistant, departed from the bunker to head back to his residence, he had asked the general not to speak to him about it for a time, as he was so emotionally drained, or “moved,” as he said. After several minutes he remarked to Ismay “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” He repeated this sentence in his speech, and ever afterwards the term “The Few” came to refer to the airmen of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the aviators of the Fleet Air Arm, Royal Navy (RN) who fought the Battle of Britain in the Second World War.

I write particularly of The Few because as of time of this video it had been just a couple of months ago that the last surviving pilot of The Few passed away on 17 March 2025, aged 105. He was John Allman Hemingway, known as “Paddy Hemingway,” born 17 July 1919 in Dublin, Ireland. Although the Republic of Ireland was a neutral power during World War II, many Irish citizens fought on the Allied side during the war. In John’s case, he was accepted to serve in the Royal Air Force and was granted a short-service commission on 7 March 1938, a year and a half before the war broke out. By the time war began with the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, he had been promoted to pilot officer, and in early 1940, he was flying Hurricanes with No. 85 Squadron RAF in France.

During the war, he rose in responsibility and from April to December 1945 he commanded No. 43 Squadron RAF, flying Spitfires. The squadron served in Italy, where Hemingway was shot down for a fourth time.

For his exploits in the war, he was “mentioned in despatches” and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, or DFC. This is a military decoration awarded to officers and warrant officers of the Royal Air Force for “an act or acts of valour, courage, or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against the enemy”. After the war, he remained in the RAF until he retired in 1969 at the rank of Group Captain, after 31 years of service.

Group Captain Hemingway was one of a decreasing number of men and women who served during that war, and who survived the conflict to remind us of the depth and debt of gratitude that we owe to all those who served to preserve the nation, and especially so to the ones who perished in order to preserve our rights and freedoms. May we all continue to remember them, not only by commemorations, but also by working to keep our lands free of tyranny, both for ourselves and our descendants.