Virtual Exhibits

The Surrender

Albert Meserlin

Mr. Meserlin served as General Dwight D. Eisenhower's photographer during the war and captured the official German surrender at Reims, France, on film. 

I knew my job was to get a lot of good pictures and that's all I did.  As I said, I was like a paparazzi.  In fact, at the surrender, the Germans, I'll never forget when Jack and I were flown out to the airfield and Jodl landed.  He was so arrogant.  Every time the flashbulb went off, he'd give me a dirty look.  He [was in] a long, gray, leather coat. 

Even at the surrender, at the table, he sat, as you all probably know, how it was set up, the Allies on one side and the three Germans on the other side, Friedberg, Jodl, and their handyman, I call him.  He took care of their coats and shoes. 

I'll never forget, he [Jodl] stood up, too, after the surrender was signed and asked, in a sense, "Would the Allies across the table treat us with kindness?"  This, well, it went on deaf ears, I'm sure, after what we saw of the atrocities at some of the camps, but Ike was not in the surrender room.  He was not part of the surrender. 

When it was all over, they took the three Germans into his office and he laid the law down to them.  That was it, dismissed them, and then, the fun all started.  [laughter]

 Lois Manning

Ms. Manning served as a US Army nurse with the 106th Evacuation Hospital.

This letter was written on the 8th of May of 1945, to my parents: 

"Dearest Mom and all,

Just why are we all so happy on this, the 8th day of May?  Why do we feel so thankful?  Yes, this is V-E Day. 

For more than a year, we have worked and prayed for this day to come.  The going hasn't always been easy, nor has it always been fun.  Dear God, in all our rejoicing, may we not withhold credit where due.  We owe so much to our fighting men and we owe so much to you. 

We all are filled with emotion, there is much we feel and can't say, but these six words best say it: Thank you, God, for V-E Day."

Frederick DeSieghardt, RC '49

Mr. DeSieghardt was serving at the Allied Force Headquarters in Caserta, Italy, in a former palace of the Italian Royal Family.

I remember V-E Day, and I remember when people started throwing papers out of windows in the palace and into courtyards.  The poor Italian staff who cleaned up were just distraught, but there was that kind of celebration.

There was no hugging and kissing of your neighbor or going out in the street and finding somebody to share your great joy. We were all happy, but, then, it was also [that] the Japanese were still to be dealt with. So, there was that air of uncertainty that hung over [us].

Russell Smalley, Jr., RC '49

Mr. Smalley served as a B-24 pilot in the 15th Air Force in Italy.

Interviewer:  Do you remember where you were on V-E Day? 

RS:  Sure.  That's the day the Colonel--I was up in the officers' club--came up to me, and it was, "You, you, you, you, come with me."  So, we went with him.

We went down to the motor pool and he said, "I want every rotor out of these jeeps [and] trucks."  So, we opened them up and took the distributor cap off, took the rotor out and put the distributor cap back, noted where we got the rotor from, what car, what jeep, what truck.  We went back to him.  

He said, "Okay."  So, then, he went back and announced that we were declared non-operational.  "Oh!"  Everybody got a little soused.  I mean, we drank every bit of beer that was in the place, we drank all [the liquor].  The other thing that we could get was gin and juice, gin and grapefruit juice, we got that in the officers' club.  You had your bottles.

It was a ruckus night, but we were no longer going to fly combat. Took it about a week or so, and then, we got in our airplanes and flew home.  So, I knew V-E Day. 

James Essig, RC '48

Mr. Essig served as a frontline US Army medic with the 100th Infantry Division.

Interviewer: What were your memories of V-E Day? Do you remember when the war finally ended?

JE: I think I was either in Stuttgart or in the vicinity in Stuttgart when the war ended, when we got word the war was over. Of course, what an amazing feeling of relief. The immediate thought then was, "When am I going to get home?"

Then, of course, the immediate problem was, we get home and are needed in the Pacific. So, we all had on our minds, "So, we get out of this, we get shipped home, and then, we get shipped over to fight the Japanese." We were very, very worried, most of us, about that.

They had established a point system, so [that] your time in Europe, your time in the service, your time in combat, is in your favor. There were some other benefit points you get. If you had enough points, you went home and got discharged, but, otherwise, if you fall short and they need you, off you go for another tour.

Charles Sloca, RC '43

Dr. Sloca served as a pilot on a B-17 in the European Theater during World War II. He was shot down and imprisoned at Stalag Luft III and Marlag-Milag.  He was liberated shortly before the war ended.

V-E Day, there, in Brussels, we had been given a clean uniform, and so, we weren't scrungy and dirty.  We're only a few Americans there and we were in this hotel.  We said we needed rooms.  They said, "Well, it's only majors and up."

This second lieutenant, and there was one of these kind of lawyers there, amongst the exes [ex-POWs], "We went out there and we fought and we served.  Now, we can't even get a room."   Eventually, I don't know what it is, but they put us in a room in this hotel, a huge room.  I had one and the bombardier had one, great, big room in there, all by ourselves.  

Well, we washed up a little bit, and then, we went down to the bar, on V-E Day.  Everybody there [was] buying drinks.  We were right there and had just fought and suffered.  

I remember a man from Rutgers, who had been in the guidance area at Rutgers at the time, yes, at that V-E Day [celebration].  He was there at the bar with a beautiful, big blonde.  We exchanged [greetings].  I recognized him and we were talking.

When I said, "You want me, when I get home, to call your wife and tell her you were here?"  "Oh," he had said, "Boy, I tried to get over there.  [It is] just things got thin; I just couldn't get there in time."  [laughter]

William Skiba

Mr. Skiba served as an infantryman in the 102nd Infantry Division.

Stendal was the airport there.  We're watching that airport there.  V-E Day, we got to meet some civilians, as you might know.  This woman said, "Come over to the house," on V-E Day.

She had a cake with whipped cream on it.  Where she got the ingredients from, I don't know, but it was an excellent cake with whipped cream on it.  

She said she had played in the '36 Olympics as a tennis entry.  She said she disagreed with Hitler's stance on refusing to meet with Jesse Owens and award him his medals, but she disapproved of that and that was about it.  

Interviewer:  She spoke English quite well.

WS:  Oh, she spoke English.  Apparently, her husband was a major in the German Army and she was well-spoken in English.  

Interviewer:  You were using her home, correct?

WS:  Well, she was just a displaced person.  I mean, I don't know where her home was, but she had just been in this house with another woman who claimed to be a nurse and this younger woman that claimed to be some sort of a ballet dancer or something like that.

Donald Van Blake

Mr. Van Blake served in North Africa and Italy in the US Army’s all African American 10th Cavalry Regiment. There, he and his unit were disbanded and repurposed as truck drivers and engineers. He then served in Southern France

I remember, well, just general happiness, what-you-call-it, drunkenness, and then, we gave a march.  We marched through town, because we were the only unit that was there, and we marched in the town of Marignane.  I've got a picture, too.  I don't know where any pictures are anymore, but there was a picture of us parading after the war, battalion commander and the rest of us--not the rest of us--battalion commander, the officers and what-you-call-it, and then, the rest of us.  Yes, we paraded after.  We had a V-E parade, Victory in Europe parade.

Robert MacPherson, RC '42

Mr. MacPherson served in the US Army Signal Corps.

We went to work at Signal Headquarters in Paris and did code work through V-E Day and up to July. I was working V-E Day night and the officers were kind enough to let some of us out for an hour or so. It was quite a scene.

Interviewer: What was Paris like on V-E Day?

RM: Well, I mean, the streets were crowded. There was a lot of noise. There were fireworks. Aircraft were flying right over the top of the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champs-Elysees.  Everybody was just plain elated. I mean, the war was over.  At that point, of course, all of us started counting how many points we had, to get out

Simon Liberman, RC '49

Mr. Liberman served as a crewman on a B-24 with the Eighth Air Force.

On V-E Day, when they had this massive celebration [in London], people were so happy that the war ended, they were climbing the utility poles and drinking.  They were on top of these double-decker busses, celebrating. It really was fantastic.

I remember, when I ran out of money, I had met a girl--actually, she was a very attractive girl.  She also, because the busses had stopped running, couldn't get back to where she lived.  I remember, we were both in the park together.  This was in May, first week of May, probably the 7th or the 8th of May, and it was very cold.  There were fires all around.  Others were sleeping in the park.

I had been in touch with her and I was going back to the States.  She said, "If you'd do me a great favor, when you get back to the States, if you can send me a pair of nylon stockings." [laughter] She wanted nylon stockings.  When I got back to the States, I remember buying three pairs and sending them to her. I never got a goddamned thank you. [laughter]

Edward G. Wildanger, RC '50

Mr. Wildanger served in the 100th Infantry Division, primarily as a jeep driver for liaison officers, shuttling between his company and battalion headquarters amid air and artillery attacks.

I was in the third-floor room of an apartment house overlooking the Rhine River, but on this side of the river, haven't crossed yet.  I had my jeep full of wine and things and we celebrated.  We had a big party that night, in that room up there, the only time I ever threw bottles out of a window to crash down below, yes.  No, I remember that very well.  We had a great time.  We all breathed a sigh of relief that we'd made it this far. 

Samuel Schmidt

Mr. Schmidt served as an infantryman in the 95th Infantry Division.  He recovered from wounds in England at the end of the war.

As a matter of fact, while I was in Cambridge, V-E Day came about, May the 8th.  We were told we could go into town and celebrate.  The town of Cambridge, which is Cambridge University, is a beautiful, typically English university.  I mean, it just drips with English atmosphere, really beautiful.

We went into a bar and we had some beer.  The English people were delighted we were there and nothing was too good for us.  The war was over that day and we were toasted.  They were giving us all kinds of food to eat.  The bar was on the house.  It was a great day.  That was May the 8th, yes.

Memories of V-E Day on the Home Front

Howard Lee Ball, Jr.

A teenager during World War II, Mr. Ball recalls the reaction to the news of V-E Day in Pompton Lakes, NJ.

Now, V-E Day, I'm glad you brought it up, that was very interesting. The diner around town was operated by Fritz Gaiss, and Fritz was a former German national who had been in the American Army during World War I.

He had a bell out in front of his place and, on V-E Day, he rang that bell, and everybody in town came by and they went in and they shared in this victory, but it was more subdued, because the boys were still in [the] South Pacific. Yes, we all celebrated and we all had a joyful time, but it was more subdued, because of the boys in the South Pacific, and most of us, I think we knew a little bit more about the war then.

We understood what it would take to invade Japan and that was one of the things that was on everybody's mind, but Mr. Gaiss, he was so happy about that, and there was never, never, ever a bit of discrimination against him.

Clifford Elling, RC '48

Mr. Elling served with the Second Air Force in military intelligence in the Washington, DC, area.

I particularly remember V-J Day. V-E Day was known in advance, so, we were restricted to base.  Of course, it wasn't really the end of the war yet, anyway.  In fact, the slogan at the time was "Golden Gate in '48," which gives you an idea of the expectations. Nobody knew anything about the atomic bomb yet and nobody could foresee the sudden end of the war.

Marie Griffin, UC '67

Mrs. Griffin worked as a Red Cross nurse's aide during the war.

V-E Day in New York City was just unbelievable. Everybody went out on the street, and we danced on the street. I remember being lifted up by the sailors and jumping around and hugging everybody: everybody was happy. [laughter] It was just a really big celebration. And then Wes came home a few days before our first wedding anniversary.

Bart Klion, RC '48

Mr. Klion was a student at Rutgers during the war.

Jumping a little bit, I know that when we had V-E Day, on V-E Day, which I believe was on May 8th or 9th, which comes in with my brother's birthday, May 9th, we had a chemistry test.  The professor was a very young professor. He may have been in his twenties.  

We said, "We don't want to have a test today.  This is V-E Day."  He says, "We're going to have a test today."  We had a test on V-E Day, a chemistry test, I remember that.

Gerald Michelson, RC '50

Mr. Michelson recalls the reaction to V-E Day at the Jersey Shore.

As far as V-E Day, yes, it was exciting, even along the Shore.  I can remember, we must have had these open, double-decker busses, with open tops like they used to have on Fifth Avenue.  I think they used them in the summer there, because they were riding up and down with the flags flying and people yelling, and then, on the boardwalk, everyone dancing and running around, and so forth.  

Nothing like Times Square, because we didn't have the population.  It wasn't quite the summer yet, so, it wasn't that crowded there, but there was a real happy feeling, kind of tempered by the fact that we still had Japan to defeat, not knowing anything about the atomic bomb at that time.  The public didn't know anything about it.