Historical: 70 Years Ago: VE Day Marked End of Long Road for World War II Troops - Almost 70 years ago, when U.S. President Harry S Truman, British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill and Soviet Premier Josef Stalin simultaneously announced that Nazi Germany had surrendered on May 8, 1945, the joy Americans felt was tempered by where they were.

The traditional defensive barrier to the heart of Germany was pierced.
American forces cross the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen on March 8, 1945
The sign reads: Cross The Rhine With Dry Feet Courtesy of 9th ARM'D Division.
Historical photograph courtesy U. S. Army

The war that began with Germany invading Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, ended with the total defeat of the Nazi menace and the unconditional surrender of the German military.

In New York, London and Moscow the eruption of joy was instantaneous. Men and women rushed to the streets to hug and kiss and dance. The war against Nazi Germany was over. The killing had stopped. A great evil ended.

The End of a Long Road

On the front lines deep in Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, the celebration was more muted, with soldiers gradually realizing they were not going to be shot at anymore and were going to go home.

Their joy was further tempered because, while Germany was defeated, Japan fought on. The soldiers realized their divisions, brigades and units would be part of the invasion of Japan.

In the Pacific, there was a brief acknowledgement that the European battle was over, but it didn’t really matter to the soldiers and Marines who were still attacking Japanese positions on Okinawa or to the sailors who were fending off kamikaze attacks on ships off the island.

VE Day signified the end of a long road. Just between June 1944 and May 8, 1945, there were 552,117 U.S. casualties in the European theater of operations. Of those, 104,812 were killed in action.

In January 1945, many believed the war in Europe would last much longer.

In January, U.S. Army soldiers were still battling against German forces that had launched the Battle of the Bulge. That battle was the largest the U.S. Army ever fought and out of the 90,000 casualties around 19,000 soldiers were killed.

Events accelerated from there.

The War Moves into Germany

Bombing missions continued over Germany and every B-17 or B-24 lost over the Reich meant a loss of 10 Americans. On the ground, Allied troops mopped up German resistance on the west bank of the Rhine River.

On March 7, 1945, soldiers from the 9th Armored Division secured the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine River in Remagen, Germany. The U.S. 1st Army vaulted the water barrier and struck deep into Germany. The 3rd Army also crossed the river and moved on. On March 22, U.S. and British forces launch a massive operation over the Rhine in Oppenheim.

General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower described capturing the bridge as "one of those rare and fleeting opportunities which occasionally arise in war and which, if grasped, have incalculable effects on determining future success." - More...
Tuesday PM - May 05, 2015

Southeast Alaska: Lawsuit Challenges Plan to Log Alaska Old Growth - Five environmental organizations on Monday challenged a plan to log the old-growth forests of Mitkof Island, near the Southeast Alaska community of Petersburg. The groups filed suit in Alaska District Court to overturn the U.S. Forest Service’s approval of this major logging project.

The groups say the agency violated federal environmental laws by concluding that logging 4,117 acres of important old-growth deer, wolf and goshawk habitat would not have a “significant” impact, without first completing the standard environmental impact statement. Instead the Forest Service broke with past practices by requiring only an environmental assessment — an abbreviated review typically used on far less significant projects.

“It is remarkable that, even in the face of huge controversy, the Forest Service stubbornly insists that thousands of acres of old-growth logging is without consequence,” said Dave Beebe with Greater Southeast Alaska Conservation Community. “This would set a terrible precedent for the management of public lands.”

The lawsuit was filed by GSACC, Greenpeace, the Center for Biological Diversity, Cascadia Wildlands and Alaska Wildlife Alliance, represented by the CRAG law center. Contrary to the claim that the logging and associated road construction would have insignificant impacts on the 134,000-acre island, the environmental groups catalogued a number of significant impacts: - More...
Tuesday PM - May 05, 2015

Ketchikan - Statewide: First Administration of Alaska Measures of Progress Completed - Alaska’s public schools have completed their first administration of statewide computer-based tests, Alaska Education Commissioner Mike Hanley said today. From March 30th to May 1st, approximately 70,300 students in grades 3 to 10 took the state’s new English and math tests, the Alaska Measures of Progress (AMP), on a computer.

“Adjusting to a more rigorous test that aligns to our standards, as well as moving to a computer-based format, was a big step,” Commissioner Hanley said. “Our districts worked hard to make the changes, and our students adapted well to the change. It was a tremendously successful rollout.”

School district superintendents said the computer-based testing generally went smoothly. Minor technology issues were identified and solved.

Schools prepared for the technology through numerous trainings and by holding a trial run in January. During the testing window, the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development and its testing contractor, the Achievement and Assessment Institute, made support teams available to schools.

“Overall, kids seem to be adjusting to the test smoothly,” said Theresa Hamilton, the technology integration facilitator for the Bering Strait School District, which serves students in 15 communities in Northwest Alaska. Younger students said that testing is more fun on a computer than on paper, she said. Some middle school students had mixed reactions to the test but they didn’t want to go back to a paper test next year, Hamilton said.

In the first two days of testing there were some connectivity issues at a few schools but they were resolved quickly, said Kristen Mashiana, coordinator of assessment for the Bering Strait School District. “By day three we seem to have worked out the kinks,” she said.