Today marks Victory in Europe Day, as the country commemorates the 75th anniversary of the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany on 8 May 1945.
As with everywhere else in the country, many Sunderland supporters lost their lives in the conflict and Wearside remains a place proud of its contribution to the World Wars and more recent conflicts.
Percy Saunders scored six goals for Sunderland in 26 league appearances between 1937 and 1939, deparing t to join Brentford shortly before the outbreak of the war. He lost his life on 2 March 1942, killed in action in the Far East.
A sergeant in the Royal Army Ordnance Survey Corps, he has a memorial in a cemetery in Singapore. He is also remembered on the club’s war-time memorial at the Stadium of Light, which also records the names of Sunderland players to lose their lives in World War One.
Someone else who lost his life was Special Constable Lancelot Slawther, who was killed in July 1943 when Roker Park was bombed.
As the nation commemorates the landmark 75th anniversary of VE Day, Sunderland AFC joins the country in remembering the fallen.