THIS DAY IN HISTORY

[IceWizard]

V-E Day is celebrated in America and Britain






1945
May 08



On May 8, 1945, both Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in
Europe Day. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in
Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war
machine during World War II.

The eighth of May spelled the day when German troops throughout Europe finally
laid down their arms: In Prague, Germans surrendered to their Soviet antagonists,
after the latter had lost more than 8,000 soldiers, and the Germans considerably
more; in Copenhagen and Oslo; at Karlshorst, near Berlin; in northern Latvia;
on the Channel Island of Sark—the German surrender was realized in a final cease-fire.
More surrender documents were signed in Berlin and in eastern Germany.

The main concern of many German soldiers was to elude the grasp of Soviet forces,
to keep from being taken prisoner. About 1 million Germans attempted a mass
exodus to the West when the fighting in Czechoslovakia ended, but were stopped
by the Russians and taken captive. The Russians took approximately 2 million prisoners
in the period just before and after the German surrender.

Meanwhile, more than 13,000 British POWs were released and sent back to Great Britain.

Pockets of German-Soviet confrontation would continue into the next day. On May 9,
the Soviets would lose 600 more soldiers in Silesia before the Germans finally surrendered.
Consequently, V-E Day was not celebrated until the ninth in Moscow, with a radio
broadcast salute from Stalin himself: “The age-long struggle of the Slav nations…
has ended in victory. Your courage has defeated the Nazis. The war is over.”




ALSO ON THIS DAY



CIVIL WAR
1864
General Lee’s army beats Grant’s
Union troops to Spotsylvania

On May 8, 1864, Yankee troops arrive at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia, to find
the Rebels already there. After the Battle of the Wilderness (May 5-6), Ulysses S. Grant’s
Army of the Potomac marched south in the drive to take Richmond. Grant hoped to
control the strategic ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
2010
Betty White becomes oldest
“Saturday Night Live” host

On May 8, 2010, 88-year-old actress Betty White, known for her former roles on
“The Golden Girls” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” becomes the oldest person to
host the long-running, late-night TV sketch comedy show “Saturday Night Live” (SNL).
White’s hosting gig came about, in ... read more





EXPLORATION
1541
Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto
reaches the Mississippi

On May 8, 1541, south of present-day Memphis, Tennessee, Spanish conquistador
Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River, one of the first European explorers
to ever do so. After building flatboats, de Soto and his 400 ragged troops crossed
the great river under the cover of ... read more


NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY
1973
American Indian Movement (AIM)
ends occupation of Wounded Knee

On the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, armed members of the American Indian
Movement (AIM) surrender to federal authorities, ending their 71-day siege of
Wounded Knee, site of the infamous massacre of 300 Sioux by the U.S. 7th Cavalry
in 1890. AIM was founded in 1968 by ... read more





WORLD WAR I
1919
New celebration of Armistice Day proposed

On May 8, 1919, Edward George Honey, a journalist from Melbourne, Australia,
living in London at the time, writes a letter to the London Evening News proposing
that the first anniversary of the armistice ending World War I—concluded on
November 11, 1918—be commemorated by ... read more


VIETNAM WAR
1970
Nixon defends invasion of Cambodia

President Nixon, at a news conference, defends the U.S. troop movement into Cambodia,
saying the operation would provide six to eight months of time for training South Vietnamese
forces and thus would shorten the war for Americans. Nixon reaffirmed his promise to
withdraw 150,000 ... read more





U.S. PRESIDENTS
1884
Harry S. Truman is born

On May 8, 1884, Harry S. Truman is born in Lamar, Missouri. The son of a farmer,
Truman could not afford to go to college. He joined the army at the relatively advanced
age of 33 in 1916 to fight in World War I. After the war, he opened a haberdashery
in Kansas City. When that ... read more





WESTWARD EXPANSION
1846
Future president Zachary Taylor
fights the Battle of Palo Alto

Before the United States formally declared war on Mexico, General Zachary Taylor defeats
a superior Mexican force in the Battle of Palo Alto north of the Rio Grande River. The drift
toward war with Mexico had begun a year earlier when the U.S. annexed the
Republic of Texas as a ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1976
The theme song from “Welcome Back, Kotter”
is the #1 song in America

In 1975, John Sebastian, former member of the beloved '60s pop group the Lovin’ Spoonful,
was asked to write and record the theme song for a brand-new ABC television show with
the working title Kotter. As any songwriter would, Sebastian first tried working that title
into his ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1963
Sean Connery stars in his first Bond movie,
“Dr. No”

On May 8, 1963, with the release of Dr. No, North American moviegoers get their first
look–down the barrel of a gun–at the super-spy James Bond (codename: 007), the
immortal character created by Ian Fleming in his now-famous series of novels and
portrayed onscreen by the ... read more





CRIME
1988
Woman convicted of killing two
in Excedrin tampering

Stella Nickell is convicted on two counts of murder by a Seattle, Washington, jury.
She was the first person to be found guilty of violating the Federal Anti-Tampering Act
after putting cyanide in Excedrin capsules in an effort to kill her husband.
Stella and Bruce Nickell ... read more





COLD WAR
1984
Soviets announce boycott of 1984 Olympics

Claiming that its athletes will not be safe from protests and possible physical attacks,
the Soviet Union announces that it will not compete in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Despite the Soviet statement, it was obvious that the boycott was a response to the
decision of the ... read more





EARLY US
1792
Militia Act establishes conscription
under federal law

On May 8, 1792, Congress passes the second portion of the Militia Act, requiring that
every free able-bodied white male citizen of the respective States, resident therein,
who is or shall be of age eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years be enrolled
in the militia. ... read more