This week, we mark Victory in Europe Day — VE Day — the moment in 1945 when the guns fell silent and the free world celebrated the end of tyranny on the continent. For those of us fortunate enough to live in peacetime Britain, it’s a moment of history that continues to resonate. But in our current era of political turmoil, cultural drift, and national uncertainty, it is worth asking: what lessons have we really learned from that generation?

The men and women who fought, served, and sacrificed during the Second World War were not abstract heroes from another time. They were our grandparents and great-grandparents, our neighbours, and our own community members — many of whom never returned. Their victory was not inevitable. It was earned through courage, unity, duty, and a sense of national purpose that now feels increasingly rare.

In the Highlands and Islands — and across all of rural Scotland — the impact of war was profound. Small communities gave disproportionately to the war effort. Crofters joined convoys. Fishermen enlisted in naval patrols. Entire villages mourned young men lost at sea or in the skies over Europe. And while the battles were fought far from our shores, the cost was felt in every home, on every street, and by every family.

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110 years ago today, we witnessed a disaster that shocked........

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