Eighty years ago on May 8, 1945, Nazi Germany surrendered to the United States and her Allies ending World War II in Europe. The German naval commander, Admiral Karl Dönitz, signed the surrender because the Fuhrer Adolf Hitler had just committed suicide.
The achievement of victory by America and her Allies, principally Britain and the Soviet Union, was remarkable, virtually indescribable. Through blood, talent, wit, brilliant military leadership, courage, industrial power, sacrifice, and grit, America and her Allies had defeated the German army, the greatest military power Europe and the world had ever seen.
The military victories by America and her Allies are thankfully still celebrated and remembered: the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France; the Soviet victory at Stalingrad; victories at El-Alamein, Egypt and in North Africa; the capitulation of Italy, Monte Cassino, the Battle of the Bulge.
American heroes became legendary – Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who later served as president for two terms; Gen. George Marshall, who later designed the Marshall Plan to rebuild Western Europe; Gen. George Patton, who led the breakout of Normandy across France and Germany; Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz, who led us to victory over Japan.
America alone lost nearly half a million soldiers killed with millions of others suffering crippling physical and emotional wounds. Sixteen million Americans served in the military. Alabama gave the nation and the world 12 Medal of Honor recipients, including Sgt. Jake Lindsey from Choctaw County, who singlehandedly killed or captured dozens of Germans in the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest.
It was a conflict of total war fought on the home front in industrial cities like Birmingham and in Mobile’s naval shipyards, as well as in faraway places such as Tunisia, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, or Burma.
The victory over Germany, Japan and Italy was a victory over tyrannical governments. The war crimes of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan are well-documented: the extermination of six million Jews; the brutal occupation of conquered lands; the murder of millions in Ukraine, Russia, and Eastern Europe; the Bataan Death March in the Philippines; the Rape of Nanking, China; the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor; the starvation of captured Allied soldiers on the Burma Railway.
Our fathers, grandfathers and uncles serving as soldiers, and our mothers, aunts and grandmothers serving on the home front defeated Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy. They liberated Western Europe from France to Holland to Scandinavia. A British historian called the victory, “America’s perpetual gift to mankind.” It is undeniable that the victory in World War II has given most of the world 80 years of peace and prosperity. Even nations that did none of the fighting – Ireland, Switzerland, and Latin America – have benefited from the peace and prosperity.
To their credit, Britain, France, and other European countries are having weeklong celebrations of VE Day and memorials to the fallen soldiers. Sadly, both my uncles were killed in World War II, one lost in the Battle of the Coral Sea, the other lost in the Atlantic.
To the half a million Americans killed, and to the millions of Allied soldiers killed, especially Strudwick and Marvin Pennington of Jasper, we say: ALL HONOR AND GLORY TO THEIR NAMES.
Strudwick Marvin Rogers, General Counsel, Alabama Oil and Gas Board, Tuscaloosa.
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