Victory In Europe: President Harry Truman Appoints A Day Of Prayer To Almighty God, May 13, 1945
Proclamation 2651 Victory in Europe: Day of Prayer
May 8, 1945
The Allied armies, through sacrifice and devotion and with God’s help, have wrung from Germany a final and unconditional surrender. The western world has been freed of the evil forces which for five years and longer have imprisoned the bodies and broken the lives of millions upon millions of free-born men. They have violated their churches, destroyed their homes, corrupted their children, and murdered their loved ones. Our Armies of Liberation have restored freedom to these suffering peoples, whose spirit and will the oppressors could never enslave.
Much remains to be done. The victory won in the West must now be won in the East. The whole world must be cleansed of the evil from which half the world has been freed. United, the peace-loving nations have demonstrated in the West that their arms are stronger by far than the might of dictators or the tyranny of military cliques that once called us soft and weak. The power of our people to defend themselves against all enemies will be proved in the Pacific war as it has been proved in Europe.
For the triumph of spirit and of arms which we have won, and for its promise to peoples everywhere who join us in the love of freedom, it is fitting that we, as a nation, give thanks to Almighty God, who has strengthened us and given us the victory.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, HARRY S. TRUMAN, President of the United States of America, do hereby appoint Sunday, May 13, 1945, to be a day of prayer.
I call upon the people of the United States, whatever their faith, to unite in offering joyful thanks to God for the victory we have won and to pray that He will support us to the end of our present struggle and guide us into the way of peace.
I also call upon my countrymen to dedicate this day of prayer to the memory of those who have given their lives to make possible our victory.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington this eighth day of May in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and forty-five and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and sixty-ninth. [SEAL]
HARRY S. TRUMAN
By the President:
Joseph C. Grew,
Acting Secretary of State.
Victory In Europe Day aka V-E Day.
On May 8, 1945, the leader of the German military forces unconditionally surrendered to the Allies. Massive celebrations erupted throughout Europe. The U.S. also celebrated, though the war in the Pacific would persist for approximately 3 more months.
Above: Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of England, waves to crowds of jubilant Brits gathered in the Whitehall area of London to celebrate the end of the war.
Below: Servicemen and friends join the VE-Day celebrations in London.
Canadians celebrate VE-Day on Bay Street in Toronto, May 8, 1945.
Victory in Europe Day, Berlin, Germany, May 8, 2016. In Treptower Park, mass graves of fallen soldiers and officers, who liberated Berlin from the Nazis, are honored with markers containing each person’s name and date of death. Note the Russian names. Russia allied with the west in the WWII European theater.
Victory Day, May 9, 1945
Whereas the western nations’ celebrate Victory In Europe Day, the celebration in Russia is referred to as Victory Day and is held on May 9. Because of time zone differences, news of the surrender reached the western nations on May 8, while it was already May 9 in Russia.
Victory Day Parade in Saint Petersburg, Russia, May 9, 2015. Pictured above is the tradition known as the “Immortal Regiment.” People parade through the streets while holding portraits of their relatives who served during WWII.
For More Information About WWII
Many great websites exist with info about WWII. In PAGA’s opinion, one of the best, if not the best, is the National WWII Museum website. The physical museum is located in New Orleans, LA.
Articles, photos, timelines, and more document this complicated world event, from conferences between the heads of state to the horror of the Holocaust. Best of all, they are not woke propaganda.
One interesting aspect of WWII is that both China and Russia were allied with the U.S., something we should keep in mind today. This article details the 1943 Cairo and Tehran conferences, replete with photos of British PM Winston Churchill, President Franklin Roosevelt, China’s Chiang Kai-shek, and others. Later that year, both Churchill and FDR met with Joseph Stalin in Tehran.
In February 1945, Churchill, FDR, and Stalin met again in Yalta. In the iconic conference photo (which can be seen in this article), FDR is visibly not doing well. He died only a couple of months later on April 13, 1945. Less than 1 month later, May 8, 1945, the war in Europe was over.
