Today is the anniversary of V-E Day. On this date in 1945 the Allied Forces and the Nazis officially ended World War II by signing a ceasefire in Berlin. When news of the ceasefire and surrender were announced, thousands of German regular army soldiers raced for their lives (literally) to find American or British forces to whom to surrender. The Nazis knew that if they were captured by Russian soldiers they could expect cruel treatment and possibly execution. The Russians were very angry with the Germans due to the millions of civilians and soldiers the Germans had killed while fighting their way to Stalingrad, and the Germans, rightly, feared that their Russian captors would avenge the deaths of their fellow Russians.
The generation of Americans who fought the Second World War, both in battle and on the home front, demonstrated their greatness, the stuff they were made of, by bringing the nation from the throes of the Great Depression to mightiest war machine the world has ever seen. Most people who are around my age or older have heard their parents, relatives, or friends talk about World War II and their experiences in the fighting or in missions to support the war efforts by working at behind-the-scenes military jobs or keeping the factories up and running back in the States.
I particularly admire the men (and women as well) who spent those four long years in the fighting overseas. These soldiers saw their friends killed and injured, suffered through terrible fighting conditions, and often went without sufficient food, ammunition, or equipment. My great uncle did not talk much about the war during the time I spent with him, but he told me about the terrible cold in the Black Forest of Germany. Our soldiers, as well as the enemy, had to spend day and night in freezing conditions, with all the misery that entails, while still engaging in combat and carrying out their orders. I truly do not know how those people did it, nor do I believe I could have endured those conditions.
As the years, and now the decades, have passed many of the veteran survivors of World War II have lived out the remainder of their lives here in the land they fought so hard to save, and then passed on to that better place that is waiting for all of us. I hope that we have not forgotten the sacrifice of these great Americans, and I hope that those of that generation who still survive know that we have not forgotten them. I am proud to remember and honor the those Americans, the members of our Greatest Generation on this, the 69th anniversary of V-E Day!
The generation of Americans who fought the Second World War, both in battle and on the home front, demonstrated their greatness, the stuff they were made of, by bringing the nation from the throes of the Great Depression to mightiest war machine the world has ever seen. Most people who are around my age or older have heard their parents, relatives, or friends talk about World War II and their experiences in the fighting or in missions to support the war efforts by working at behind-the-scenes military jobs or keeping the factories up and running back in the States.
I particularly admire the men (and women as well) who spent those four long years in the fighting overseas. These soldiers saw their friends killed and injured, suffered through terrible fighting conditions, and often went without sufficient food, ammunition, or equipment. My great uncle did not talk much about the war during the time I spent with him, but he told me about the terrible cold in the Black Forest of Germany. Our soldiers, as well as the enemy, had to spend day and night in freezing conditions, with all the misery that entails, while still engaging in combat and carrying out their orders. I truly do not know how those people did it, nor do I believe I could have endured those conditions.
As the years, and now the decades, have passed many of the veteran survivors of World War II have lived out the remainder of their lives here in the land they fought so hard to save, and then passed on to that better place that is waiting for all of us. I hope that we have not forgotten the sacrifice of these great Americans, and I hope that those of that generation who still survive know that we have not forgotten them. I am proud to remember and honor the those Americans, the members of our Greatest Generation on this, the 69th anniversary of V-E Day!
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