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Austin Bay Blog » VE Day Remembrance

Austin Bay Blog

5/1/2005

VE Day Remembrance

Filed under: General — site admin @ 3:51 pm

May 8 is the 60th anniversary of VE Day -Victory Europe. Here’s a link to a quick overview of VE-Day.

I’d like to hear from readers who remember May 8, 1945 –especially WWII vets (world-wide). Where were you when you heard that the warin Europe was over? What did you think and how did you feel? If you were in the Pacific theater, or had loved ones deployed in the Pacific or China/Burma/India (CBI), what were your thoughts?

Please reply either by email (through Creators Syndicate) or leave a comment on this post.

27 Comments »

  1. I was just shy of six years old on VE day and I remember it very well. My Mom and Dad rolled up the rug in our living room and danced like crazy. We knew that my Uncle, who was a German prisoner of war would be coming home and that WW2 would be over soon

    Comment by Glenn Gallup — 5/1/2005 @ 5:31 pm

  2. I was at Kessler AAFB Miss. We were assigned to Air-Sea Rescue B 17 Airbourne Lifeboat. One of my crew Started gathering all available—Well it looked like ballons –filled them with gas from the outlet in the hut Then tied them to a roll of toliet paper and slowly let it rise then lit a match to the end of the paper. When the flame reached the Gas filled object It burst into a large ball of flame. Fourth Of July fireworks in May.

    Comment by Harold Kennedy — 5/1/2005 @ 6:11 pm

  3. On behalf of my Nana and Poppa, a decorated WWII vet, I post the following: My Poppa was a great big bear of a man, part of the Junction Gang in Toronto before he went to war. He was known for his size, willingness to stand up for himself and his friends, and his ever-present Taft hat with the snap brim. As tough a man as he was, he always had a soft spot in his heart for my Nana whom he called “Duchess.” Nana and Poppa were engaged one time that Poppa was on leave. They wrote letters to one another by the dozens. She still has every one, tightly held together with a faded red ribbon. Nana didn’t know exactly when Poppa would be returning. One morning at work she received a call from one of Poppa’s friends advising her that he was scheduled to be home that day. She immediately told her co-workers the wonderful news. They whisked her into the bathroom and set her hair in pin curls–she worked with her hair set and in a net the whole day. Her girlfriends helped her get ready for Poppa before she left work. She thought she’d be seeing him that evening; however, upon leaving work, she spied him across the street. What a handsome figure he cut in his uniform. Without thinking, she dashed across a busy intersection and was almost hit by a bus. Poppa swept her up in his arms and said: “Duchess, I didn’t go to war to come back and see you killed by a bus. Look before you cross the street.”

    Comment by Kymberlee DeForest — 5/1/2005 @ 6:23 pm

  4. My father served in the Army Air Corp. I was not to be born until the 1950s. For many years I asked my father about the war; He carried serious injuries that caused him pain until his death in 1993. Wisely, he told me little until I traveled to Europe and spent time in the theater he flew over and bombed. He had also returned to Austria, Italy and Germany after finishing the Episcopal Seminary in the Autumn years of his life. His wife said it was healing for him. I was in my 40s before I understood what he must have gone through and why he felt as he did. I accepted the flag at his funeral and I went to the Defense Dept to get a copy of his service record. My generation was the first not to serve since the Revolutionary War. I would have gone if called but my Father never expected nor urged me to enlist. I’m a man now and finally know what he did for the World and America but it is too late to tell him. God bless his sacrifice. Thank you to all who served.

    Comment by Stuart — 5/1/2005 @ 6:36 pm

  5. My father served in WW2 in the Air Corps as a Staff Sergeant, doing payroll and other clerical work. He supported the 12th Air Force in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. He was at a base in Austria when the war ended, and naturally was excited when the war ended. He and my mother visted Austria last summer and went to some of the places he visited during the war. His favorite experience was seeing the Statue of Liberty from the troop ship when he came home.

    Comment by Doug Melzer — 5/1/2005 @ 7:02 pm

  6. All servicemen who were in the European Theater and thought that now they were going to the Pacific Theater (CBI), agreed that Truman’s two A-Bombs saved their lives.

    Comment by Toby Shandy — 5/1/2005 @ 7:21 pm

  7. My Pop served in the 102nd Infantry Division, “The Ozarks” in WWII. Pop fought with valor and bravery, as did all the men in his division. He received the Purple Heart in action, fighting through his injuries. He volunteered in 1941 and came home from the European theater an NCO, The following is an excerpt describing he and his compatriots’ role in defeating the most evil of empires: ‘At precisely 0245 hours the artillery barrage against the east bank of the Roer, to soften up the enemy defenses, commenced. Simultaneously the 327th Engineers started erecting pontoon bridges that would be used to cross supplies, reinforcements and artillery. With the swift Roer current and incoming artillery it would prove a daunting task. At 0300 the first infantry to cross the river was a raiding patrol from the 407th Regiment. This patrol led by 1st Lieutenant. Roy “Buck” Rogers wiped out several machine gun nests along the dike paralleling the east bank. At 0330 C Company pushed off the banks of the Roer in Roerdorf. The 407th jumped off at Linnich. The 406th, held in reserve at Basweiler, would cross much later in the day. Daylight brought with it clear, blue skies and U.S. air support was called in. German tanks and air support wouldn’t arrive until well after nightfall. Enemy mortars would continue to pound the allies until 1100 hours. A battalion of infantry had made it across and successfully pushed the enemy’s mortars back far enough that it could no longer reach the American front lines. By 1400 hours the entire 102nd had crossed the river and was on it’s way to the Rhine. The next day the German 338th Infantry Division arrived to support the thoroughly whipped 59th. It proved to be to little too late. The 102nd had penetrated to far inland from the east banks of the river for the Germans to make a stand. The Ozarks had taken every town in their path as far east as Erkelenz. The 701st Tank Battalion having crossed the pontoon bridges had caught up to the infantry on February 26th. On February 28th the Ozarks surrounded the city of Gladbach, considered the premier prize of the war thus far. It was not to be however. The Ozarks were ordered to turn the assault of the city over and continue pushing the Wehrmacht (German Army regulars) back towards the Rhine. So swift was the 102nd advance that they crossed the enemy’s axis of defense. Prisoners were being taken from seven different German divisions at the same time. In six days time the 102nd had humped 30 plus miles, fighting all the way.’ Pop, I love you and will always stand in awe, as your son, at the bravery and selflessness you and the countless other men and women who fought with you displayed. God bless you Pop, God bless you Austin Bay…and God bless America and what she stands for.

    Comment by Tim — 5/1/2005 @ 8:26 pm

  8. I was just a toddler, but still remembered the festive atmosphere when it came on the radio. My father, his brother and grandfather and Aunt’s Husband were all serving. It was my uncle who had joined at 16 with his father’s permission and was serving in the Pacific on a submarine. He remained career Navy, as was my grandfather career until their retirements. As was my Aunt’s husband career Air Force. My father left the military in 1949. Since there was no TV and no photos of “that day” there was nothing to create a memory and yet I knew it was something festive even if I didn’t comprehend fully. I knew it wasn’t an ordinary radio day.

    Comment by Nancy — 5/1/2005 @ 9:00 pm

  9. Iwas in the Philipine Island .With the 90th BG. Was thrilled to hear the news .

    Comment by Kenneth Laughrun — 5/1/2005 @ 9:09 pm

  10. I was 9. It was a sunny day in Los Angeles. I recall seeing the newspaper headlines, but I don’t recall whether our our teacher said anything. Our family was in a sorrowful mood because my aunt Joan’s fiancee had just been killed at Iwo Jima and she had received the news in May after which she remained in her bedroom (we lived with her; she was 17) for months and rarely came out. (She later resumed a normal life, went to a Christian college, married and had one daughter before dying of cancer in 1959. I’ve always thought her cancer may have been partly psychosomatic in origin because of the crushing blow of May 1945).

    Comment by Ron — 5/1/2005 @ 11:16 pm

  11. I am not quite old enough to have been around then but found this interesting link.

    …At the time of the September 11 attacks, we at Hillsdale [College] were conducting an on-campus conference on the Second World War. Several famous historians and several heroic veterans of the war were here. One of the latter was General Robert Ploger. He arrived on Omaha Beach early in the morning of June 6, 1944, DDay. Early on he was shot in the foot. He spent the day on the beach, waiting for some explosives to arrive so that he could blow up a wall. Finally they came, and he performed his mission. He came out of the American lines about Christmas time, his first break, somewhere near the German border. He limped on his wounded foot the whole time. General Ploger’s speech at our conference on the morning of September 12 was among the most moving, but it seemed a little halting. At lunch that day we learned the reason. He had received a call late the night before in our campus hotel to say that his son and daughter-in-law had been passengers on the plane that went into the Pentagon. They were on their honeymoon. General Ploger had already paid 60 years before a heavy price for the freedom of his country. Many who paid that price at the time thought they had paid it once and for all, the payment worth it because it was a payment for those who would come after them as well. General Ploger learned on the night of September 11 that his family was not finished paying. The last price was more grievous still. General Ploger, at least, was not a “little Eichmann.” He was one of the people who destroyed the movement of which Eichmann was a part. The grief imposed upon him by September 11 was another payment extracted by the tyrants of the world from those who have the courage to stand up and resist them. …

    Comment by elvis — 5/2/2005 @ 1:09 am

  12. I am just grateful that there is no nation today that can threaten us as Japan and Germany did then, because America just doesn’t have enough young men with the backbone to fight such a huge war. Liberals have tried to ruin this country for a long time, and have nearly succeeded.

    Comment by Improbulus Maximus — 5/2/2005 @ 8:21 am

  13. I was thirteen years old, living with my Dad, Mother, and 3 brothers in a 3-room apartment in Baton Rouge, LA. I was riding my new-to-me, second-hand bicycle out our driveway onto the street. When I passed an open window in which a radio was playing, I heard that the war was over. Dad loaded up our entire family and we went into downtown Baton Rouge and joined the crowd literally filling the streets — as if we were at the exit gates when a football game is over. It was great fun. I enjoyed everything but all the girls kissing all the boys. (Remember, I was only 13 at the time and had not yet reached puberty. I’ve changed since then.)

    Comment by Bobby F. Dowden — 5/2/2005 @ 9:54 am

  14. My parents met on VE Day, just before my father was shipped to the Pacific as a replacement infantry lieutenant. He served on Okinawa as a rifle platoon lieutenant in the 96th Divison. Here’s a picture of them on VE Day. My mother was a Marine. http://tomholsinger.smugmug.com/gallery/352813/1/11560606/Small

    Comment by Tom Holsinger — 5/2/2005 @ 9:57 am

  15. I was aboard LSM 270 (Landing ship Medium) at Okinawa when we heard that the war was over. It wasen’t for us as fighting was still going on in the East China Sea. After Okinawa was secured, we were preparing to invade Japan. President Truman ordered the Atomic Bomb on Japan, thus ending the war in the Pacific and saving the lives of probably one million Americans including myself.

    Comment by William Clarkson — 5/2/2005 @ 3:32 pm

  16. I was 17 and was in the Presbyterian Center, much like an USO for the servicemen in Miami, FL. All of us ran out into the street in downtown Miami and cheered for the news. Because the streets were full of people, buses could not run. I had to walk more than 20 blocks to get home, but none of us minded.

    Comment by Helene Sullivan — 5/2/2005 @ 3:45 pm

  17. VE Day, 1945, was fraught with irony and frustration for me. As a 19 year old veteran of 35 combat missions over Germany, I was delighted for the defeat of Germany and also because I was on a troop ship in South Hampton harbour, England which was to join with a convoy of some 8 or ten other ships bound for New York the next morning. BUT because it was thought that the U Boats would still be actively trying to sink allied ships, we were to go under wartime black out rules. The harbor was alive with lights and boats of all types plying back and forth tooting horns and shooting off flares. We could hear female laughter. Everywhere there was joyous celebration but we could not light so much as a cigarette on the deck of our ship. I and my fellow returnees had to stand in the dark and watch the great city celebrate this great victory we had helped win and yet not be allowed to participate. I hear we missed a hell of a party! Bob Gilbert, B-17 Ball Turret Gunner

    Comment by Bob Gilbert — 5/2/2005 @ 5:12 pm

  18. I was with the 69th Replacement Battalion stationed near Marburg, Germany. We were very happy that hostilities had come to an end in Europe but were very much aware that the fight with Japan was not yet over and knew that the Army would have found a place for us in the Pacific area had the atomic bombs not settled the issue once and for all.

    Comment by Spencer Sullivan — 5/2/2005 @ 5:15 pm

  19. My father was a US Coast Guardsman aboard the USS Davenport (PF-69) in May of 1945 and his ship was averaging 10 knots while escorting a convoy from New York City to the Mediterranean Sea. They were just south of the Azores Islands when official word came of Germany’s surrender. One of his shipmates, Tom Bretz, asked the ship’s Commander, “Why don’t we leave this slow convoy and go home?” Commander Henry Stolfi replied, “We can’t - there might be a sub or two out here that didn’t get the word.” The Davenport and their convoy continued on to Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria, arriving safely several days later. On May 11th, Commander Stolfi read aloud and posted the following message that was broadcast from Gibraltar to all ships in the US Atlantic Fleet: President Truman has proclaimed the unconditional surrender of Germany. You and your Allies have won a great victory. The price is high; it has been won by determination, sacrifice and blood. With this victory you have won something more; the admiration and gratitude of America and the world. The task has now been half accomplished. Another powerful enemy remains. It will require all our resolution and fortitude to destroy him. Only by doing can we keep faith with those who have fallen. Let us now go forward to speedy and complete victory in the Pacific. AR Victory over Nazi organized resistance is not only a source of much gratification, but an occasion for congratulation. I wish to commend every officer and man who has served in the Atlantic on the successful termination of a hard, tedious and difficult task. Another hard job lies ahead in the Pacific. Therefore, this is the time to renew and rededicate our determination to hasten the day of final victory over our Japanese enemy in the Pacific. BT The USS Davenport returned to the US in June 1945 for a quick conversion to a weather ship. The ship and its crew were then redeployed to the North Atlantic where they provided weather reports and Air Sea Rescue support for the thousands of aircraft that were being flown westward “to hasten the day of final victory over our Japanese enemy.”

    Comment by Mike Grobbel — 5/2/2005 @ 8:43 pm

  20. I had just debarked in San Diego after a 35-day trip across the Pacific on an LST. I was with a group of Marines returning to the States after 3 years in the Pacific and surviving the Battle of Iwo Jima. We would get a few months in the States and then return to the Pacific for the invasion of Kyushu. The war was over in Europe but not for us. So, the news was really like, “Ho hum.”

    Comment by Clif Cormier — 5/3/2005 @ 11:34 am

  21. I was fourteen at VE day, but remember the joyful celebration in our small town, Alton IL. Dancing in the streets, fireworks, whatever. Five years later I married a World War II veteran. Harry served in Guam (Air Force) as part of the support system for the B29 bombings of Japan. I have wonderful pictures taken from the bomb sites of the B29s. I’m trying to get them posted ’somemwhere.’ I’m still trying to find Harry’s records. (They were destroyed in a fire in St. Louis and are not retrievable. We think he was in the 39th bomber group, but can’t verify that. My kids would like to know. I’m 73 (Harry would be 92 but he’s not here so time is running out.) We try, but the St Louis fire is our handicap. Any information about Harry’s service in Guam would be appreciated. We know he was there. we just can’t find details. I also have leaflets dropped on three cities (prior to the bombings) that warned them of the impending bombs. Only one city was the target. The leaflets are in English on one side and Japaneze on the other. The Pacific War was still to be won when VE day occurred, but VE was a major

    Comment by janice jenkins — 5/3/2005 @ 11:42 pm

  22. As a member of the 440th Troop Carrier Group and had participated in every major battle in Europe, I was on R@R in Southern France, when the good news of the dropping of the big Bomb and the Japs decision to surrender came to us. There was great celebrations among us because we had been very busy installing bullet proof fuel tanks in our C-47’s in preparation to go to the Pacific. I feel that the decision to drop the H Bomb could very well have saved our lives along with many others. I was a T/Sgt and Crew Chief on a C-47 Aircraft of the 98th Squadron of the 440th Troop Carrier Group. I had already had too many close calls during during the dropping of the 101st, and 82nd Airbourne from D-Day right on to crossing of the Rhine during our little conflict with Hitler. I have written and published the Book “Little One and His Guardian Angel” an autograph of my experiences during all these battles. Charles Everett Bullard 1235 Gin Bay Rd. Cameron, SC. 29030 803-823-2711

    Comment by Charles Everett Bullard — 5/4/2005 @ 10:28 am

  23. […] ay’s sixtieth anniversary). The column uses two VE Day stories from the comments in my original VE Day blog post. I received several other stories in email. A thank you to every […]

    Pingback by Austin Bay Blog » VE Day Remebrance Column — 5/4/2005 @ 2:25 pm

  24. I was in the South Pacific in the U.S. Marine Corps, and don’t even remember hearing about it for many days. When we did, we all thought “great, now the Army can get out here to help us with Japan’.

    Comment by Bob De Villiers — 5/4/2005 @ 3:16 pm

  25. VE Day 1945 I was serving in A Company 1st Bn. 7th Marines,1stMarine Div on Okinawa and was trying to stay alive. Charles H. Owens USMC Ret. LaFayette, GA

    Comment by Charles H. Owens — 5/4/2005 @ 3:26 pm

  26. I was just a bun in the oven on VE Day but my father was preparing for the invasion of Japan. You can add my voice to those thanking Harry Truman as were it not for those bombs, I might never have met my dad.

    Comment by Kyda Sylvester — 5/4/2005 @ 10:42 pm

  27. So when was the official date: The unconditional surrender of Germany was signed at Reims on May 7 and ratified at Berlin on May 8. The Allies had agreed to mark May 9, 1945 as V-E day, but western journalists broke the news of Germany’s surrender prematurely, precipitating the earlier celebration. The Soviet Union kept to the agreed date, and Russia and other countries still commemorate the end of the Second World War, a significant part of which is known as the Great Patriotic War in Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union, as Victory Day on May 9. The news flash reached Canada at 9:36 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on May 7, 1945: “Germany has surrendered unconditionally.” On May 7, 1945, within minutes of a CBC (Canadian) bulletin that Germany had surrendered unconditionally, crowds flooded onto Rue Ste-Catherine in Montreal. (CBC Photo/Montreal Herald) On 7 May 1945 the German High Command authorised the signing of an unconditional surrender on all fronts: the war in Europe was over. The surrender was to take effect at midnight on 8–9 May 1945. The following day, 8 May, was declared VE (Victory in Europe) Day, but in Australia, celebration was tempered with the knowledge that the war in the Pacific was still to be won. Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day or VE Day) was May 8, 1945, the date when the Allies during the Second World War formally celebrated the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. (May 8, 1945), Victory in Europe Day. In World War II, V-E Day was the day following Germany’s unconditional surrender to the Allies The day of victory in Europe for the Allies in World War II; May 8, 1945, the day of the formal surrender of the German … On May 11th, Commander Stolfi read aloud and posted the following message that was broadcast from Gibraltar to all ships in the US Atlantic Fleet: President Truman has proclaimed the unconditional surrender of Germany. You and your Allies have won a great victory. The price is high; it has been won by determination, sacrifice and blood. With this victory you have won something more; the admiration and gratitude of America and the world. The task has now been half accomplished. Another powerful enemy remains. It will require all our resolution and fortitude to destroy him. Only by doing can we keep faith with those who have fallen. Let us now go forward to speedy and complete victory in the Pacific. AR Victory over Nazi organized resistance is not only a source of much gratification, but an occasion for congratulation. I wish to commend every officer and man who has served in the Atlantic on the successful termination of a hard, tedious and difficult task. Another hard job lies ahead in the Pacific. Therefore, this is the time to renew and rededicate our determination to hasten the day of final victory over our Japanese enemy in the Pacific. BT

    Comment by Don Nicol — 2/11/2006 @ 7:24 pm

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