May 8th, 2020 marks 75 years since the end of World War 2 in Europe. VE Day stands for Victory in Europe Day, which is understandably a much bigger deal in Europe than in the United States. The United States played a huge role in the Victory in Europe though.
Before officially declaring war, the United States was sending war supplies to both Britain and the Soviet Union. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States was at war with Japan and Germany.
Major Speeches
We Shall Fight on the Beaches speech selection by British Prime Minster Winston Churchill (June 4, 1940)
Soviet Union Chairman Josef Stalin war speech (November 7, 1941)
United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares war on Japan (December 8, 1941)
King George VI’s VE Day Speech (May 8, 1945)
United States President Harry S. Truman VE Day Speech
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill VE Day Speech
Soviet Union Chairman Josef Stalin VE Day Speech
Allied Nations
American veterans remember World War 2
British veterans remember World War 2
Soviet Union (Russian) veterans remember World War 2
History Research (Family…or Famous People!)
Do you have a grandparent or great-grandparent who was involved in World War 2? Ancestry Library Edition is accessible from home during this Pandemic time. Normally this database is only freely accessibly AT the physical library buildings, so introverts take note! Ancestry has an extremely large collection of World War 2 Records from both the Allies and the Axis countries. The entire military catalog can be found at this link but here are the World War 2 highlights:
U.S. World War 2 Draft Registration Cards
U.S. WW1, WW2, & Korean War Casualty Listings
U.S. World War 2 Army Enlistment Records 1938-1946
U.S. World War 2 Hospital Admission Card Files, 1942-1954
U.K. D-Day War Diaries & Photos, 1944
German Killed in Action Cards List 1939-1948 [records in German]
Concentration Camp Survivor Records 1946-1958 [records in German]
Maybe your ancestors immigrated to the United States after the war. You can search on Ancestry for immigration records or naturalization information too! It can feel pretty amazing to see a digitized copy of an original document with your family member’s name on it. Many of these documents may be downloaded as PDFs and saved to your personal computer forever, so get your family history fix in while the Pandemic is still going on!
