V.E. Day ----- Nazi Germany Surrenders!
This year marks the seventy fifth anniversary of the end of W.W. II, first with final victory in Europe over Nazi Germany and later in 1945, the surrender of Imperial Japan. It was a difficult and bloody year. The famous “Battle of the Bulge” marked the failed attempt of the German army to drive the allied forces back, followed by the U.S. and allied forces fighting their way through Germany to Berlin and the final victory on May 8, 1945. Meanwhile in the Pacific Theater our U.S. forces were “island hopping”, forced to rout Japanese forces from one Pacific island after another, a long and difficult grind while the U.S. Air Forces put pressure on the Japanese mainland, naval and other targets. The controversial atomic bomb put an end to Japanese resistance by August 14th of 1945 when the final surrender occurred. No matter your thoughts on deployment of the atomic bombs, many soldiers, sailors and marine’s lives were spared by the quick end to that war and their parents and sweethearts were grateful.
There are some of us, this writer included, that lived through that time period and remember well the rationing, victory gardens and reports of allied victories at the cost of too many deaths reported in our newspapers. To our younger readers, the war is history, a time of many stories and movies, sometimes glorifying the bravery of those combatants and also portraying the evil horrors of war. Whatever your perspective on World War II, this 75th anniversary is a time to reflect on the effects of this global conflict on our history, both local and national. To this end the Waterville Historical Society will be placing exhibits in the Robbins House Museum reflecting on W.W. II, the local men and women in that conflict, and effects on our citizens. Since our museums are closed due to the Corona Virus epidemic, this exhibit will not be available to the public until such time that it becomes safe to be open. History remains unchanged, however, and we will try to present some of our World War II exhibits in photographs throughout the year. Perhaps some of our readers will share their memories or thoughts on this time period on our Facebook page. Better still we would like your thoughts of your time in service by sending it to the website or message us on Facebook so we can tell you how to send them to us.
Authors note: This is the first of several articles we hope to share with our readers on World War II. We hope to bring you several more on specific persons or incidents later.