Voices of VE Day 75 - Mervyn Kersch

WW2 Nation Podcast

To mark the 75th Anniversary Commemorations of VE Day, we spoke with a few of the veterans we know about their experiences on 8th May 1945 and hear their advice for future generations.

Mervyn Kersch served with the RAOC from D-Day through to Germany. Nearly not making it to Normandy due to being put on a charge by an officer for not eating the supplied meat in army meals as it wasn’t kosher, that was quickly sorted and Mervyn continued in the training ahead of Operation Overlord. He would land on Gold Beach a few days after the 6th June, where he was part of setting up the vital vehicle parks to maintain the supply and demand of the land army from motorbike to tanks. He even managed to ‘borrow’ a jeep to drive around in. From the breakout of Normandy, Mervyn was part of the advance that moved across Belgium and the Netherlands. Mervyn spent time in Celle and would encounter many of the liberated Jews from Bergen Belson who were awaiting transport. He was able to speak to some of the survivors in broken English, French, German and Yiddish. He recalls many he spoke to wanting to travel to Eretz. On the 7th May, Mervyn embarked a train to Brussels, they were to prepare to go to the Far East. The train arrived on the 9th May where they were then informed the war in Europe was over and hostilities had ceased.

*Please note this episode may contain some explicit language / content, parental guidance advised.*