History Corner - May 2025

May 8, 1945: Known as Victory in Europe Day or V-E Day - celebrations erupted around the world to mark the end of World War II in Europe. The war had been raging for almost five years when U.S. and Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944. The invasion signaled the beginning of the end for Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. In less than a year, Germany would surrender and Hitler would be dead. But in his speech to the nation on V-E Day, President Harry S. Truman cautioned that Allies must “work to finish the war” by defeating the Japanese in the Pacific.

May 30, 1868 - The first official Decoration Day, precursor to Memorial Day, was celebrated on May 30, 1868. Ohio Rep. James A. Garfield, a former general and future U.S. president, addressed a crowd of 5,000 gathered at Arlington National Cemetery. May 30 was a day touted by the Grand Army of the Republic, an association of Union Civil War Veterans, as an official day of remembrance for people across the country. The hope was to honor the war’s dead by decorating the graves of Union soldiers.

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