2020 News Archive
September 02, 2020
NORFOLK, Va. - The United States will mark 75 years since the end of World War II with special ceremonies Wednesday. The Virginia WWI & WWII Commemoration Commission hosted a virtual ceremony live-streamed from the deck of the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk. The Japanese document of surrender to Allied Powers was signed on September 2, 1945 at 9:08am aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Wisconsin is a sister-ship to the Missouri. To mark the exact time of the surrender, the ceremony will feature a flyover by two F/A -18F Super Hornets assigned to VFA-213, the "Blacklions," at...
August 29, 2020
Tuesday, World War II and Korean War veterans will board a bus headed for Bedford, Va., site of the National D-Day Memorial. Six World War II and six Korean War veterans from Beaver and Allegheny counties will make the trip, accompanied by a companion, said organizer Jerry Fisher of Brighton Township. A bus can transport 54 people, Fisher said, but COVID-19 limits passengers to 24 to maintain proper social distancing. Under normal circumstances, ROTC cadets from Beaver Area School District would salute the veterans and honor their service before they departed. But these are...
July 04, 2020
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (WSET) -- A 93-year-old veteran in Martinsville was honored on Saturday even as Fourth of July celebrations across the country were canceled due to COVID-19. John McCain served in the United States Army in Germany during World War II. McCain also owned a dry cleaning business in the area. Martinsville council member Danny Turner said that he wanted to continue the city's Fourth of July celebration by remembering the hometown hero."It's an opportunity to thank all our World War II veterans because of their age," Turner said. "They're leaving here in...
May 08, 2020
The last recorded Nazi message intercepted and decoded by Britain in World War II has been revealed for the first time to mark the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day. This note, written by GCHQ Analysts at Bletchley Park in WWII, shows the final message from the German BROWN network: "Closing down for ever -- all the best -- goodbye." The message, released by the UK's intelligence and security organization Government Communications HQ (GCHQ) shows the final words broadcast by a German lieutenant just before surrendering to British forces outside...
May 05, 2020
You may not be able to get to the Library of Congress these days, but that hasn’t stopped the library from celebrating the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. The library’s Veterans’ History Project announced Tuesday the launch of “End of World War II: 75th Anniversary,” an online collection of video and audio interviews with World War II veterans about their experiences and what the end of the war meant to them. The library said in a statement that many of the oral histories are being put online for the first time. The storytellers include: Jerome Yellin, of the 78th Fighter...