Cayman and the British West Indies’ contribution to victory in Europe in World War II will be remembered at Thursday’s commemoration of Victory in Europe Day.
The country will light a beacon, one of more than 200 around the world, to mark the 80th anniversary of the 8 May celebration of the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945, at a ceremony organised by the Cayman Islands Veterans Association and Celebrate Cayman.
Alfonso Wright, executive chairman of Celebrate Cayman, said, “As we celebrate VE Day, we not only honour the bravery of our veterans but also reflect on the values of peace and unity that this day represents.
“We encourage everyone to join us in this celebration of freedom and remembrance.”
Governor Jane Owen, new Premier André Ebanks and other government officials will attend the event, to be held at the Cayman Turtle Centre in West Bay, starting at 7:30pm.
The commemoration will also include President of Cayman Islands Veterans Association Andrew McLaughlin, as well as association members and relatives.
Cayman per capita contributed more manpower to the war effort than any other of the Allied countries, with 800 men of the then 6,500 population serving in the British Merchant Navy.
More than 200 additional men joined the Trinidadian Royal Naval Reserve and others served on land as part of the Jamaica Home Guard detachment set up to protect Cayman. More Caymanians served in other branches of the armed services, including those of the US. It total, two-thirds of Cayman’s adult males were involved in the war.
The Cayman beacon will be part of a chain designed to remember VE Day and those who took part in the D-Day landings in June 1944.
Fires will be lit across the UK, in the other British Overseas Territories, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
Special lamp lights of peace will also be set up on the five Normandy beaches — codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword — invaded by forces from the UK, US and Canada on D-Day.
Ebanks, while the head of Cayman’s London office, in 2019 became the first representative of the country to lay a wreath at the annual Remembrance Sunday commemoration at the Cenotaph in London.
The British foreign secretary by tradition had laid a wreath on behalf of the UK Overseas Territories, but a campaign by the United Kingdom Overseas Territories Association caused a change in policy and the chairman of the association was allowed to lay a wreath from 2001.
The privilege was extended to individual territories almost 20 years later.
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