It was such a big deal when the Germans surrendered making May 8, 1945 “Victory in Europe,” or V-E Day. Now, the day has slipped away into the shadows. D-Day, June 6, 1944, is now the day we really treat like V-E Day, but truth be told, the American people were told that the Liberation of Normandy meant the Germans were beat. Certainly the fall of Paris was the emotional victory everyone craved, but it still left months are hard, bitter fighting ahead, like, say, the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 into February 1945.

In September 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, running for a fourth term and weary of more casualties from a European theater the voters were told was winding down, gave the same order as Adolph Hitler gave his generals: Stop Patton.

Enjoy this video and reflect on the end of a truly terrible war.

Happy VE Day!