More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
VE Day was a joyous day for all involved - Britain was victorious after six miserable years of war. Crowds brought traffic to a standstill as they danced and sang in the street and pubs filled to the brim with revellers, ecstatic at the news.
But for Mary Maskell, a 20-year-old living in Tonbridge at the time, the historic day was made even more special when she fell over and was helped by a soldier who ended up being her husband.
Her son, Clive Bradburn, has retold the story 75 years on...
"As a teenager, my mum had watched the war raging in the sky above Kent and was lucky when an unexploded shell crashed through the roof of her house one night as fortunately, none of her two brothers, two sisters, nor her mum and dad were injured.
"After Dunkirk, the trains coming from the coast back to London full of wounded soldiers would stop at Tonbridge Station for a break.
"Mum and her friends would help them with bandages and give them food.
"Mum’s dad was a train driver and would regularly be driving the train loaded with soldiers, many injured, tired and hungry.
"My dad, Eric Bradburn, lived in Manchester and as a 20-year-old joined the Army and was immediately posted to the Middle East. There he stayed for the full duration of the war, serving in one of the last cavalry regiments before being transferred to the Royal Signals as a dispatch rider.
"He was among the troops being sent home as the war ended and he was billeted in Tonbridge before returning home to Manchester.
"On VE Day, May 8, 1945, he and his fellow soldier friends made their way to Tonbridge High Street where they joined the thousands of other people thronging the streets celebrating the end of the war. Music was playing and crowds were dancing.
"As everyone was forming lines to dance the Palais Glide, the crowd surged forward and in the malaise that followed some fell over.
"Mum recalls that out of the confusion a handsome soldier appeared who helped her to her feet.
"Apparently it was love at first sight and the rest is history.
"Dad went back to Manchester but in less than a year later he returned to Tonbridge and they were married in St Stephen’s Church very near the spot where they first met.
"They then returned to Manchester and shared a room with dad’s family which wasn’t overly successful.
"I was born there in May, 1947 and six months later, we moved south to Leybourne then a few years later to New Hythe.
"Dad had several jobs including work at the paper mill then we moved to Maidstone in 1959.
"Unfortunately, at the young age of 41, dad died of cancer. Mum was left to bring up three children which was a struggle, but we all created good lives for ourselves.
"Mum lived in the same house for 50 years and sometime after her second husband died, she moved to an almshouse flat in Vinters Road where she still lives now.
"She has a carer come in twice a day but does an awful lot and continues to go for walks outside.
"Mum will be 95 in June - she gets a bit muddled, but she can recall stories from all those years ago especially that wonderful VE Day moment, for which my brother, sister and myself are forever grateful - without VE Day I wouldn't have been born!"
Mrs Maskell said: "It was a very happy time - everybody was celebrating, dancing along right across the street. There were hundreds of soldiers. I was a bit tipsy that day and the row in front of us stopped so our whole row fell over. And then a soldier helped me up.
"I thought he was a bit off all right. But I never thought I would marry him. He went back to the barracks but said I would see him again.
"Every time this day comes round, I see it all again."
