05/08/2026
Today marks the 81st anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, aka V-E Day.
On this day in 1945, both Great Britain and the United States celebrated Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the N**i war machine.
For just over five years and eight months a war had been raging in Europe that began with Germany’s invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. 2 days later, France and Great Britain declared war on Germany. WWII had begun.
The USA, though supporting the Allies with materials and weapons, did not enter the war until Japan, who joined up with the Axis Powers September 22, 1940, bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941.
The US entered WWII the very next day.
World War II was the most destructive war in history. Estimates of those killed vary from 35 million to 60 million. The total for Europe alone was 15 million to 20 million—more than twice as many as in World War I. At least 6 million Jewish men, women, and children, and millions of others, died in Hi**er’s extermination camps.
Nor were the Germans themselves spared. By 1945, in a population of some 70 million, there were 7 million more German women than men.
Between 1939 and 1945, at least 60 million European civilians had been uprooted from their homes; 27 million had left their own countries or been driven out by force.
V-E Day, therefore, marked a major milestone for the Allies but did not end the war—as Allied governments pointedly reminded their citizens.
President Harry S Truman announced the victory in Europe to the American people, dedicating the victory to Franklin D. Roosevelt who passed less than a month before, and appointed the following Sunday, May 13—Mother’s Day, appropriately enough—a day of prayer for thanksgiving. In part, his announcement said,
“Our rejoicing is sobered and subdued by a supreme consciousness of the terrible price we have paid to rid the world of Hi**er and his evil band. Let us not forget, my fellow Americans, the sorrow and the heartache which today abide in the homes of so many of our neighbors—neighbors whose most priceless possession has been rendered as a sacrifice to redeem our liberty.”
He went on to note that World War II was not over, in that Japan and the US were still locked in a terrible Pacific war. “If I could give you a single watchword for the coming months, that word is work, work, and more work. We must work to finish the war. Our victory is only half over.”
He warned the Japanese that the full weight of the American military machine would now be directed against them.
Across the country, however, joyous celebrations broke out. Church bells rang out the glorious news in small towns and major cities. Thousands crowded into New York’s Times Square with news of the surrender, and other celebrations took place in cities across the nation, but in general the reaction to V-E Day was more muted than in Europe as the Pacific Theater continued.
Keep the Spirit of '45 ALIVE!
