Happy V-E Day!
Victory in Europe Day, generally known as V-E Day, VE Day or simply V Day, was the public holiday celebrated on 8 May 1945 to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces.[3] It thus marked the end of World War II in Europe.
The term VE Day existed as early as September 1944,[4] in anticipation of victory. On 30 April 1945, Adolf Hitler, the Nazi leader, committed suicide during the Battle of Berlin. Germany's surrender, therefore, was authorised by his successor, Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz. The administration headed by Dönitz was known as the Flensburg Government. The act of military surrender was signed on 7 May in Reims, France and on 8 May in Berlin, Germany.
The former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries have historically celebrated the end of World War II on 9 May. However, the Baltic countries now commemorate VE day on 8 May.[5] In Ukraine from 2015, 8 May was designated as a day of Remembrance and Reconciliation, but it is not a public holiday.
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I can only image how my dad felt on May 8, 1945. He was in Germany and faced with the prospect of heading to the Pacific. He probably breathed a little easier on V-J Day. 
My Dad went to Europe as a young student in the early '50s and he told stories about occupied Berlin. He said you didn't want to go where the Russians were in charge. When he traveled many years later, Germany was the first country he chose to re-visit, he was anxious to see how it had changed. 
My parents found Checkpoint Charlie very disturbing. 
My Dad died when I was 2 1/2 so I never had an opportunity to ask him about his experience. But my uncles, two who went ashore on D-Day at Normandy, told me about it. Both were certain they were going to die that day. My Uncle Bill drove a Higgins boat up to the beach and was shot in the bum. He thought that was funny - that they shot him in the ass. 
Both uncles survived the war. 
