Two days after the worst-ever terrorist attack on British soil, the Bishop of London prayed Saturday for the bombed capital at a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. "This is a grave day for London," the bishop, Richard Chartres, said at a ceremony attended by Queen Elizabeth II to dedicate a huge memorial to the women of the war era in Whitehall.
"We pray for the bereaved and the injured, for the anguished and the grieving and we give thanks for those in the police, emergency services and caring services who have striven to save life with such courage, to minister to the suffering and to do their duty, as the women of World War II did in their own time," he said.
After the queen unveiled the memorial marking the sacrifice of British women during the war, military helicopters with all-female crews flew past down the route of Whitehall in central London.
The death toll from the attacks, at four locations during the Thursday rush hour in central London, stands at least 50 and with bodies still lying in the wreckage is expected rise much higher. Some 700 people were injured.
The bombings and people's attitude since them have re-awoken feelings of a time when Britons showed similar resilience under a far greater threat.
Saturday has been named by Britain's government as National Commemoration Day to mark the end of World War II in Europe on May 8, 1945, with Sunday honouring the end of the war in Asia on August 15. The weekend was chosen because it falls between the two dates. The biggest event will be on Sunday, some 16,000 veterans will take part in events marking the anniversary, with over 100,000 people expected to watch.
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