75 years ago on may 8th 1945, the islands formally announced germanys surrender, ending 40 Million Deaths in europe alone. The president celebrations erupted all over the world including in the United States. Americans gather together to express a range of emotions. Theyre euphoria, friends and families would be coming home. The grief for hundreds of thousands who would never set foot on american soil again, and the fear for those Service Members still fighting the pacific. But for a moment, the world celebrated the hope of peace. I wish had lived to see this day. Their lives the forces of germany have surrendered to the united nation. After more than five years of conflict the war which had decimated families towns and cities, came to an end via and Unconditional Surrender on may 8th 1945. The flags of freedom fly all over europe. The power of our people to defend themselves against all enemies will be proved in the pacific war as it was proved in europe. Whether you wore a uniform, b
Arthur godfrey for example. It was a big thing. I told him i liked it very much. So we got cleaned up and out the door. He said i want to tell you one more thing. He said you be good to the corps, and it will be good to you. I never forgot those words. And so from there, there had been applications posted on the Bulletin Board in the stuff that you read every day about a new school in new york for the march of time. You know the march of time . It was a leading newsreel film of the day. It was a half hour show produced only once a month and it was about anything in the world. That was good because our country, the people in our country were not wellversed in what was happening in the rest of the world. We were an agrarian country. The kids coming out of high school didnt going to college was not sincerely the first thing they thought about. It was a good thing. People would go to the movies. They would wait for a good movie that was coming to go at the time of the march of time was sho
Hopping in the central solomons. But, the battle for nazi held italy was only beginning. On the 3rd of september, two british divisions crossed the straits of messina to land on the toe of the italian boot. Six days later, American Forces struck the beach at solar no, 30 miles south of naples. Four days after the landings, the enemy launched a strong counterattack pouring in some of its best troops. For a time, our foot hold was precarious. Supported by a concentration of combined firepower from aircraft, naval guns and artillery, the allies held the beach head. The heavy pounding by land sea and air was too much for the nazis. They fell back as our own forces pushed on towards naples. By then, italy had surrendered unconditionally, now officially out of the war. October 1st, 1943, elements of general clarks army entered the city of naples. They were greeted not as conquerors but liberators. The citizens of naples knew that we and our allies were the only hope of driving the germans fr
Serving as a cameraman for the marine corps. He captured footage of the battle of tarawa that helped marines win an Academy Award for best documentary short in 1945. The World War Ii Museum spoke with mr. Hatch for its oral history collection. This is the first of a twopart interview. Norman one day i was doing press releases and i got i went up into the head on the third floor. I am standing there. Commandantn but the in civilian clothes. He looks at me and says you are marine, arent you . I say yes, sir. He says how do you like your job . What are you going to tell the commandant . I liked it very much because i went to town and the press club, got to know the reporters, the godfrey for example. It was a big thing. I told him i liked it very much. So we got cleaned up and out the door. He said i want to tell you one more thing. He said you be good to the core, and it will be good to you. I never forgot those words. , there had there been applications posted on the Bulletin Board in t
Hershel i was born and raised in the country. At the time of growing up, myhed father was in the dairy business. We were farm people, and we lived in a farm community. There were 11 kids born to our family. Some of them back in the teens, and when the flu hit in 1918, the epidemic came along, we lost most of them. But five of us survived. I wasnt born yet. I wasnt born until 1923. Of course, the flu epidemic ended in 1919. But we had no military influence in our community at all. There was no bases. People who went in the army back at that time, and we didnt know there was any other branch of the service, because we thought everybody went into the army. The army was the army and included everybody. The army or military service was not too well thought of in those days. You went in the army because you were in trouble with the law or you were too lazy to work. Thats the only reason you went into the military. We had a couple of fellows in our community who apparently didnt like to farm.