VE Day 80: Royal Mail Unveils Stamps Celebrating Unsung Wartime Heroes and Dame Vera Lynn

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Royal Mail Unveils Special Stamps for VE Day’s 80th Anniversary
A new collection of stamps honoring World War II heroes has been launched to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day. The Royal Mail’s commemorative set includes 10 stamps celebrating individuals who made extraordinary contributions during the conflict, alongside a mini-sheet featuring iconic wartime images of Dame Vera Lynn.

Honoring Unsung Heroes
The stamps highlight diverse figures, including George Arthur Roberts, recognized as the first black recruit to the London Auxiliary Fire Service in 1938, and Mary Morris, whose diaries documented her efforts nursing soldiers evacuated from Dunkirk. John Harrison, a Royal Navy crewman tasked with maintaining gun turrets on HMS Belfast, and Bhanbhagta Gurung, a Victoria Cross recipient for bravery in Burma, are also featured.

Key Figures in Innovation and Resilience
The collection pays tribute to Thomas Peirson Frank, whose teams repaired over 100 breaches in London’s Thames defenses during air raids, and William Tutte, the codebreaker who decrypted Germany’s Lorenz cipher, a breakthrough that accelerated Allied intelligence efforts. Tutte’s work at Bletchley Park, alongside the development of the Colossus machine, reduced decryption times from weeks to hours7.

Commemorative Initiatives
Royal Mail will apply a special VE80 postmark to all stamped mail during the anniversary week in May and support VE Mail, a letter-writing campaign connecting schoolchildren with WWII veterans. Emma Gilthorpe, Royal Mail’s chief executive, emphasized the stamps’ role in honoring “the silent warriors whose contributions echo through history”.

The stamps and collectibles are available for pre-order from April 24, with general sales beginning May.