Special VE Day stamps to honour unsung war heroes

A main set of 10 stamps will honour men and women who made contributions during the Second World War, while a mini-sheet of stamps has images of Dame Vera Lynn from different aspects of her wartime career.

People featured include:

– George Arthur Roberts, the first black man to join the London Auxiliary Fire Service, in 1938

– Mary Morris, whose diaries describe how she nursed troops returning wet and wounded from Dunkirk

– John Harrison, who served in the Royal Navy on the destroyer HMS Belfast and was responsible for maintaining “A” and “B” gun turrets at the front of the ship.

– Bhanbhagta Gurung, who fought in Operation Longcloth in Burma, now Myanmar, and was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery under heavy fire

– Thomas Peirson Frank, a civil engineer and surveyor whose rapid-response teams repaired more than 100 breaches of the Thames wall during air raids

– William Tutte, a codebreaker whose work was key to decrypting the Lorenz cipher, the German code used for top-level communication and intelligence.

Royal Mail will be applying a special VE80 postmark on stamped mail in the week of the anniversary in May.

The business is also supporting VE Mail, a letter-writing initiative connecting schoolchildren with Second World War veterans.

Emma Gilthorpe, chief executive of Royal Mail, said: “Behind every victory of a nation there are countless unsung heroes whose courage and sacrifice shaped the future of the world.

“On VE Day, we remember not only the leaders and generals, but the silent warriors whose contributions echo through history.

“For the 80th anniversary of VE Day, Royal Mail is proud to issue these stamps honouring the courage, sacrifice, and resilience of those who fought for freedom and peace.”

The stamps and a range of collectible products are available to pre-order from Thursday and will go on general sale from May 1.

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