V-E Day

[LTC]

It's 15 minutes to midnight and as far as I can see there has been no mention of today being the 73rd anniversary of WWII V-E day on the forum.

My connection to V-E day, my Father, passed 4 years ago this past January. He sacrificed 33 months of his youth to serve his country and did the part he was assigned to do, in the ETO, to defeat Nazi Germany.

I hope everyone who has or had a family member or friend in the fight, told them thanks today or kept them in their prayers. They all deserve to be remembered.

Thanks Pop.

LTC

 

[Old 44 Guy]

Yes, I remember this day 73 years back. My father was too old to serve & I was too young, I was almost 14. Had to wait for Korea to serve.

 

[Naphtali]

The most momentous wartime message simply read: "The mission of this Allied Force was fulfilled at 0241, local time, May 7th, 1945." [It was signed] Eisenhower

FYI: During World War II, General Eisenhower refused to meet any German general officer. However, though I cannot confirm that he did not meet with lower ranked German soldiers, I doubt he did.

 

[Golddollar]

Thank you to all of you who served, the Greatest Generation.

 

[Roadtrash]

I was just 2 months old at the time but a lot of my family were over there and a lot were also in the Pacific.

 

[rayb]

On a more ominous note, Dien Bien Phu fell on 7 May 1954. That was the start of the US decline from the victories of 1945.

Your opinion may vary.

rayb

 

[Watchdog]

It's 15 minutes to midnight and as far as I can see there has been no mention of today being the 73rd anniversary of WWII V-E day on the forum.

How quickly we forget, huh?

Some would say seventy-three years isn't "quickly"...but why and how can we forget no matter how much time has passed?

History's lessons are still valid today. Maybe in a different context, but valid nonetheless.

We are so caught up in today...caught up with our jobs, our televisions, computers, cell phones, cool cars and nice clothes, sports, you name it...we're in danger of forgetting how we got here, and how close we came to not getting here.

I wonder what will happen to the memories when the last WWII veteran passes away, and the last of the baby boomers like me are gone? Will anyone remember?

 

[Bugkiller99]

My Dad flew in a B17 in the 8th.

After spending the day in the Mighty 8th Air Museum in Savannah, I gained a new level of understanding the Hell he went through.

 

[Chuck24]

How quickly we forget, huh?

Some would say seventy-three years isn't "quickly"...but why and how can we forget no matter how much time has passed?

History's lessons are still valid today. Maybe in a different context, but valid nonetheless.

We are so caught up in today...caught up with our jobs, our televisions, computers, cell phones, cool cars and nice clothes, sports, you name it...we're in danger of forgetting how we got here, and how close we came to not getting here.

I wonder what will happen to the memories when the last WWII veteran passes away, and the last of the baby boomers like me are gone? Will anyone remember?

The front page of The NY Times says VE Day will be proclaimed today and its the May 8 edition. Is the difference because of time zones or is there some discrepancy about which day it is?

 

[Golddollar]

I wonder what will happen to the memories when the last WWII veteran passes away, and the last of the baby boomers like me are gone? Will anyone remember?

[

I think there will be historians and re-enactors carrying on for generations afterward. The Civil War took place 150 years ago and the last veteran of the Civil War died around 1959. But there is no shortage of historical study of the Civil War even now, and organizations like the North-South Skirmish Association have been providing an avenue for decades to experience some of what went on at that time.

I have heard that at some of the John C. Garand rifle matches sanctioned under the Civilian Marksmanship Program have young people participating while wearing their granddad's uniform from World War II.

 

[Targets Guy]

Grandfathers and grandsons flying a B-52 with the same tail number.

 

[kaaskop49]

I read that, from D-Day to VE Day, 135,000 Americans gave their lives in the NW Europe campaign.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

 

[fordson]

The front page of The NY Times says VE Day will be proclaimed today and its the May 8 edition. Is the difference because of time zones or is there some discrepancy about which day it is?

The surrender was signed in the early hours of 7 May, to go into effect on 8 May. This allowed time for all combat units to receive “the word”.

 

[wbraswell]

I didn't forget, but I didn't post on the Forum. I did post on my FB page, "Never forget. 73 years ago, Victory over Germany"
My dad joined the AAF early in 42, was in supply for the 452nd BG, of the Mighty 8th. That is until a major saw that he had arthritis, and had him sent home, in 44. Doesn't that seem silly now. I remember Dad wasn't happy about that.

 

[Targets Guy]

Total battle deaths for US forces in WWII (1941-1945)

291,557

https://www.va.gov/opa/publications/factsheets/fs_americas_wars.pdf

 

[REM 3200]

V-E Day does mean something to me, but not nearly as much as V-J Day.
My Dad served in the Pacific as a company commander in the 11th Airborne Div.
All through the Philippines and was staged for the invasion of the home islands of Japan.

 

[jag312]

Early June, 1945, my father was told that he would be reassigned from the Atlantic to the Pacific in preparation of the invasion of Japan. He told my mother something like this, "I don't know if I will survive this war, but I do know that a lot of young men in my command will not."

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

Our generation may be the last folks who will really remember much less care about VE or VJ day.

 

[tndrfttom]

My dad (the guy on the right in the photo) told me he spent VE day in the base hospital with appendicitis! He served in the 8th AF (91st Bomb Group, 401st Squadron) from September 1942 til May 45. He had enlisted in 1941 and was in school in Texas when Pearl Harbor was attacked. The B-17 he was crew chief for was shot down April 8, 1945 by anti-aircraft fire near Stendahl, Germany and only 2 of the crew parachuted out becoming POWs for one month. My dad never knew there had been survivors until years later when he talked to some of his buddies at an 8th AF reunion and later when more detailed info became available on-line.

On May 21 he got orders to fly back to the States along with 19 other guys in a war-weary B-17. After some R&R he was assigned to the 2nd AF as a replacement and began familiarization with B-29s at Smoky Hill AFB in Salinas Kansas -then the atom bombs were dropped.

VE day was always remembered at our house, but to may dad, April 8th - the day 'his' plane was shot down and most of the crew was lost, hit a lot closer to home.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

There were two signings. Jodl signed the capitulation agreement with the Western Allies at Reims at 0247 May 7, Keitel signed with the Soviets in Berlin at 2301 May 8. Since it was already May 9 in the USSR, they celebrate Victory Day on May 9

 

[bamacisa]

On a more ominous note, Dien Bien Phu fell on 7 May 1954. That was the start of the US decline from the victories of 1945.

Your opinion may vary.

rayb

The French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu. The US had no forces in the battle.

 

[Absalom]

The French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu. The US had no forces in the battle.

Exactly.

And if FDR had lived to see V-E Day and been the decision-maker in the months after, we might have never let the French go back in, which highly likely would have turned out better for everybody.

“France has milked it for one hundred years. The people of Indo-China are entitled to something better than that.” FDR, Jan. 1944

 

[Rustyt1953]

Good thread.

Dad served in Germany from '44-'46.

My mom was 12 when this happened to her home of Liverpool:



My grandad was a fireman for the Liverpool Shipyard. I remember the burn scars he carried. This was a day at the office:




Mom never had much of a childhood but, boy is she making up for it now.