V-E Day Through the Eyes of a Combat Soldier
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By Francis P. Sempa
May 08, 2020
When I was a child growing up in northeastern Pennsylvania, our family celebrated or commemorated national holidays, Roman Catholic holy days, and two other special days: June 6th and May 8th.
June 6th was the anniversary of D-Day, and in 1944 my father Frank Sempa was one of thousands of American soldiers on ships in the English Channel waiting to get the signal to land on the Normandy beaches of France. My father was a sergeant in the 175th infantry regiment of the 29th Division, and he landed on Omaha Beach on June 7, 1944, D-Day + 1.
May 8th was the anniversary of the end of the war in Europe—V-E Day. On May 8, 1945, my father was on the west bank of the Elbe River when Germany surrendered. A few days before V-E Day, an entire German V-2 Rocket division surrendered to the 29th Division, knowing full well that they would be treated much better by the Americans than by Russian troops on the east bank of the Elbe. Those two days—June 6th and May 8th—had special meaning in our household.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2020/05/08/v-e_day_through_the_eyes_of_a_combat_soldier_115261.html
