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Arnold Pinder’s Story

VE Day in Burma.

Arnold Pinder heard the news that the war in Europe was over while he was serving in Burma.

The 19-year-old Sergeant from Kiveton Park in Sheffield was with the 14th Division in charge of Transport: "We were called the forgotten 14th", he recalls.

Arnold had joined up as soon as he was old enough. He volunteered for the RAF but got put in the army.

On 8 May 1945, he was up in the mountains and out in a vehicle when a radio truck pulled up and someone told him the war was over. "Good. The war where?" he asked.

When he heard it was the war in Europe that was over he decided there was nothing to celebrate because he knew his division would be staying out there a while longer.

When victory in Japan was declared, he drove the car that took the Japanese Ambassador to the signing of the treaty.

Now 89, Arnold says he won't be joining in the celebrations.

He feels bitter that they didn't get proper supplies until the war in Europe was finished and when he was demobbed 18 months after the war finished. He says there were no homecoming celebrations for him and the men he served with.

Image: Arnold during the war.

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Duration:

3 minutes

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