Fifty years ago hostilities between the Allies and the Axis forces ceased. To mark that momentous occasion, during January 2005 U3A Internetwork would like third-agers around the world to write and tell us where they were, what they were doing, and what their reactions to that event were.

For many this would be a joyful domestic occasion like the street party above. But for many more this would mean only the start of years of struggle to rebuild a life shattered by war.

In Association with the Timewitnesses website and Orion Books we will publish some of those memoirs. They should be roughly one A4 page long and if possible we would like a photograph of the subject at the age they were at the time. If preferred, the stories may be anonymous, and the email addresses used will not be used for any other purpose other than this project and will not be passed on to any third party.

"Timewitnesses tells the stories, in English, French and German, of many members of the University of the Third Age. It has become a valuable resource for students of many countries studying World War Two, and some of the panel make their email addresses available to students so that they can answer further questions."

"Orion books are collaborating with the BBC People's War project and we're looking for much more than how people celebrated VJ day.

Although accounts of VE and VJ day celebrations will feature, and many of these will be British stories, our definition of when the war ended is not fixed to these dates. For example, returning soldiers or POWs for whom the war didn't end until they had returned home to their families, first Christmas together etc.

The project is quite broad at the moment and we want to represent a wide variety of experiences. We are using many of the British civilian and military recollections which have been posted on the People's War website. I am now more interested in collecting international stories,and especially in how news that the war was over affected people in the countries previously occupied, New Zealand, South Africa, the USA, in Russia and in Germany and Italy."