Sultan and Collingwood sailors celebrate WW2 victory with Hampshire parade

Sailors from HMS Sultan and Collingwood joined veterans, re-enactors, cadets and uniformed groups to mark the 75th anniversary of VE/VJ Day… one year late.

The pandemic scuppered plans to hold Lee Victory Festival last year as planned, with organisers deferring the event to three days at the end of September 2021.

Rear Admiral Iain Henderson, Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire, took the salute from marching platoons of sailors from Sultan and Collingwood – part of a 300-strong parade through the Hampshire seaside town which included cadet forces, uniformed groups and associations, some World War 2 – now in their 90s – and Veterans’ associations alongside re-enactment groups in vintage vehicles.

Crowds lined the streets of Lee for the one-and-a-half-mile parade, which also included a gun firing salute.