BANK HOLIDAY THANK YOU TO NATION'S HEROES

BRITAIN will say thank you to the Greatest Generation with bonus bank holidays to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

- Giles Sheldrick

Plans to honour next year's momentous milestones are set to include a four-day jamboree, the Daily Express understands.

Victory in Europe Day on May 8 marks the formal acceptance of Germany's unconditional surrender in 1945, while Victory over Japan Day on August 15 is the day Imperial Japan surrendered, effectively bringing the war to an end.

No decision has yet been made on which summertime weekend could be extended to four-days, but an announcement is imminent. Next year is likely to be the last chance for many of our surviving 1939-45 heroes-numbering around 70,000 - to take part in commemorations in their honour and remember the sacrifice of their fallen comrades.

And last night they gave their wholehearted backing to the idea of a bank holiday bonanza.

Veteran Geoff Roberts, 99, who was captured during Operation Market Garden, the airborne assault on Arnhem in 1944 and held as a prisoner of war, said: "It's very important in these current times that we remember those who gave their lives for our freedom and peace in Europe.

"We should never forget them.

Maybe an extra bank holiday will help to remind people about what's happened in the past." Marie Scott, 98, was 17 on D-Day and worked in a top secret underground bunker passing coded messages from military commanders to soldiers landing on Normandy's beaches.