These days mark a couple of significant anniversaries in United States – make that world – history.
The world remembers May 8 as V-E Day, Victory in Europe. This week is the 79th anniversary of that historic day.
World War II had taken its toll in Europe. By the spring of 1945, the Allies had turned the tide of the war. The Axis Powers, led by Germany and Italy, were faced with surrender. Benito Mussolini, the Italian dictator, was executed on April 25. Days later, on April 30, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his underground bunker. While Germany and its conquered territories hung on a few more days, the end was near.
V-E Day was declared on President Harry Truman’s 61st birthday. Celebrations were held all over the world, but in the U.S., especially Times Square. In President Truman’s address to the nation, he expressed his only regret was that President Franklin Roosevelt had not lived to see the historic occasion (he had died on April 12).
World War II is rightly remembered as a time of heroes, one of the few times in our history in which Americans were all on the same side. The entire globe was engulfed in a war against the worst evil humankind had ever seen.
This week, we also remember the 49th anniversary (April 30, 1975) of the official end to our involvement in Vietnam.
The Vietnam War had been going on a long time before the U.S. got involved in French Indochina in the late 1950s. America was in no mood for the expanse of Communism, particularly in those post-World War II years, and had been involved with the war in Korea during the interim.
President John Kennedy came in fighting Communism on nearly every front: the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the space race with the Soviet Union, to name a few. It was understandable, then, for the U.S. to get involved with South Vietnam.
As the years went by, following President Kennedy’s assassination and throughout all of President Lyndon Johnson’s term in office, the Vietnam War escalated at a frightening pace. Public opinion turned against the war effort by the late 1960s, and President Richard Nixon was elected thanks to his so-called “secret plan” to end the war.
The war continued through the Nixon years, and even expanded into other countries such as Cambodia and Laos. By 1973, the United States had decided to leave, and troops were withdrawn.
58,000 Americans were estimated to have been killed and 300,000 wounded during the war. It was one of the longest, bloodiest, and most divisive conflicts in American history.
So, in 1975, as the U.S. prepared to leave the embassy in Saigon, we watched helplessly as the last Americans out were doing all they could to help the South Vietnamese before the North took over. Helicopters loaded with refugees landed on aircraft carriers in the Pacific Ocean, then were pushed out to sea to make room for more. Desperate Vietnamese clung to ladders on the last choppers off the rooftop, but we left them behind as the North Vietnamese tanks stormed the gates of the presidential palace.
What is striking as we recall these anniversaries is that the country used to care about what was happening around the world. It has been replaced with a bitter cynicism that penetrates every corner of our society.
On V-E Day, we celebrated the liberation of Europe and honored our veterans returning home. When Saigon fell, many disrespected the soldiers, sailors, and airmen who fought so valiantly. Today, while many of us are buried in our cell phones responding to social media posts about celebrities and politicians, the seeds are being planted for World War III.
Hamas viciously attacked Israel – a country created at the end of World War II – back in October. Iran recently sent drone attacks into Israel, as well. The far left and far right appear to be united in their anti-Israeli sentiment, while middle-of-the-road politicians, including President Biden, are criticized for their unwavering support of Israel. College campuses are currently hotbeds of pro-Hamas, anti-Jewish protest. When did it become chic to hate the Jewish people?
For nearly two years, the people of Ukraine have been brutalized by Russia and thuggish leader Vladimir Putin. My sister-in-law, who is Ukrainian, reported that the building next door to her father’s workplace was bombed – the people who live in Ukraine are so accustomed to wartime, it has become a normalized part of their lives.
As we recall the anniversaries on this week in history, may we be prayerful that the United States always remains on the side of what is right as we do our best to support the cause of democracy around the globe.
Michael Bird is a music teacher for Tallassee City Schools.
