On the 75th Anniversary of V-E Day, WWII Veterans Are Stuck in Isolation

Events have moved online, and the veterans who would have attended are bored and lonely in retirement homes.

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Last year, the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia, attracted a crowd of more than 10,000 people for a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy. There was a parade honoring the roughly 100 World War II veterans in attendance. People were encouraged to greet them, shake their hands, and thank them for their service. The memorial had similar plans this year to celebrate the 75th anniversary of V-E Day on Friday—until the coronavirus pandemic broke out.  

Like nearly every other museum and educational center, by the end of March, the D-Day memorial had moved all of its events online. And it’s not taking any chances for May or June either: The memorial has canceled all public events for the foreseeable future. It does not expect to reopen until well into the summer. 

“We were pretty quick to recognize that having 95-year-old men out in public this year was not going to happen,” said John Long, director of education at the memorial.

The situation is not ideal, Long admits, but live-streaming ceremonies on V-E Day and D-Day is a better (and safer) way to honor veterans than doing nothing at all. After all, the Greatest Generation is the most at-risk for contracting COVID-19. And it’s already quickly aging into the grave. Of the 16 million people who served in World War II, just shy of 400,000 were still alive in 2019, according to the Department of Veteran Affairs.  

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  1. Avatar photo
    Aylene Wright

    Thanks for this reminder to honor our veterans!

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  2. Avatar photo
    Visibly

    In Norway, we are today celebrating the end WWII. Probably unknown to most, the 3 Scandinavien countries chose so different approaches to Hitler’s war:
    Sweden collaborated with Germany, remained free and got very rich in doing so. They helped a lot of Norwegian’s escaping, but often returned Jews back to Norwegian Gestapo.
    Denmark accepted German overrule. And they managed to save almost all of their Jews, with Sweden taking them in. And with limited damage to their own people.
    Norway fought hard, with the King’s NO, being famous. Our seamen at that time represented the biggest corporation in the world, providing essential products to our allies. But we terribly failed our jews. And so many people died being part of the resistance.

    Which of the 3 countries made the right choice, morally and economically? In today’s situation, we need to understand that the judgement of our decisions today can only be evalued in the future.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Bill Nelson

      Denmark really had no choice, but they were not very cooperative with Germany. And we should also remember Finland, really between a rock and a hard place. Norway did pay a heavy price.

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    Nick H

    Thanks for sharing this. Hopefully people will remember to reach out to the surviving veterans in their communities to thank them and let them know they haven't been forgotten on this anniversary.

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