Betty Allen’s Story

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While millions across Britain were celebrating the end of the war in Europe, for Betty Terry and her mother in Doncaster, it was a day filled with pain. On 7 May 1945, a telegram had arrived saying Betty's father had been killed. George Henry Terry had been shot by a sniper's rifle in Germany. The worst possible news arrived two days before Betty's 13th birthday and her world came crashing down. While the neighbours and everyone in their street celebrated the end of fighting in Europe, they sat at home in shock at losing a man who'd been central to both their lives. George Terry was only 33 and Betty says she never got over losing him. She still finds it hard to celebrate the occasion all these years later because it seemed so unfair that her father lost his life so near the end of the war. Now called Betty Allen, at the time she lived on Albert Street in Doncaster and told BBC Sheffield’s Kate Linderholm about her memories of a very sombre VE Day. Image: Betty Allen