Eighty years ago on May 8, 1945, German General Alfred Jodl signed the surrender of all Nazi forces to the Allies at 2:41AM Central Europe Time, with all fighting officially stopped one day later. Nearly ten years of fighting Nazis for the Western Europeans (Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in 1935), five for the Soviets (being Hitler’s ally for two years prior to Operation Barbarossa when the Germans turned on them), and almost three years for American troops (first American troops landed for Operation Torch in North Africa, November 8, 1942).1

ACT OF MILITARY SURRENDER

1. We the undersigned, acting by authority of the German High Command, hereby surrender unconditionally to the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Forces and simultaneously to the Soviet High Command all forces on land, sea and in the air who are at this date under German control.

2. The German High Command will at once issue orders to all German military, naval and air authorities and to all forces under German control to cease active operations at 2301 hours Central European time on 8 May and to remain in the positions occupied at that time. No ship, vessel, or aircraft is to be scuttled, or any damage done to their hull, machinery or equipment.

3. The German High Command will at once issue to the appropriate commander, and ensure the carrying out of any further orders issued by the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force and by the Soviet High Command.

4. This act of military surrender is without prejudice to, and will be superseded by any general instrument of surrender imposed by, or on behalf of the United Nations and applicable to GERMANY and the German armed forces as a whole.

5. In the event of the German High Command or any of the forces under their control failing to act in accordance with this Act of Surrender, the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force and the Soviet High Command will take such punitive or other action as they deem appropriate.

Signed at RHEIMS at 0241 on the 7th day of May, 1945. France

On behalf of the German High Command.
JODL

IN THE PRESENCE OF

On behalf of the Supreme Commander,
Allied Expeditionary Force.
W. B. SMITH

On behalf of the Soviet High Command
SOUSLOPAROV

F SEVEZ
Major General, French Army
(Witness)2

For the Europeans, the German surrender meant finally being able to live and breathe again without the constant threat of bombing. Sure, most of the continent didn’t have much in the way of housing, or food, or material goods left, but at least listening for air raid sirens, finding bomb shelters, or fearing firestorms was at an end—for Germans as well as everyone else. Hitler was dead, Goebbels was dead; Goering, Speer, and Hess were in custody. For the moment at least, everyone heaved a collective sigh of relief and set about getting their lives back in some sort of order. The Nazi regime was, at that time by and large, recognized as evil and BAD.

My parents both served in the Navy during World War Two. Two of mom’s brothers also served: one in the Army helped to liberate Italy, one in the Navy served on a submarine in the Pacific. Perhaps it was their patriotism that encouraged her. More likely, it was the need of a job after graduating from Tucson High School in 1942 that led her to employment at the new Army Air Corps base northwest of town.

Marana Army Air Field officially opened in March of 1943 to train fighter pilots, but it had been functioning since the summer of ‘42 in preparation. Mom was nineteen when she met a young cadet named George Johnson. They married in September of 1943, then he was sent on for additional training to California in November. By January of ‘44, he was stationed in Foggia, Italy, flying a P-38 Lightning (“Forked Tailed Devils” the Nazis called them) on missions to escort bombing raids, especially on “Hitler’s Gas Station” in Ploestri, Romania.

Mom continued to work at Marana Air Field, even singing with the base’s orchestra at events, most notably her public debut at the Fourth of July Rally for War Bonds at Armory Park in Tucson.3 It was probably three weeks later that the telegram arrived to inform her that George was MIA after going down in Ploestri June 10, 1944. She knew the odds weren’t good. She formally enlisted in the Navy WAVES (two days before what would have been their first anniversary) on September 2, 1944.

Rosemary Olivas Johnson after graduation from Hunter College Navy WAVES Basic Training, December 1944. The only Mexican/Latina in her class.

Mom was officially a widow at the age of twenty when she received the letter from the War Department dated January 1945 (and boy, is that a convoluted story I’ll share in my book) declaring George as Killed in Action. She never talked much about him, other than to say he was her first love and first heartbreak. I remember her telling me how everyone danced, laughed, and cried the entire night of May 8, 1945; she’d get a little misty-eyed and I’m sure she was thinking of George.

She was assigned to Corona Naval Hospital in Riverside, California in January of 1945. So she celebrated VE Day there. She didn’t meet my dad until the autumn of 1946, but they both served in the burn unit, taking care of the sailors and Marines wounded in battles in the Pacific. They didn’t get mustered out until November of 1946, and married that December. They had fifty-one years together before my dad passed.

Rosemary Olivas Johnson, Pharmacists’ Mate, Petty Officer Second Class, 1946.

My mom hated Nazis. With every fiber of her being.

Me too, Mom. Now it’s my turn. And while I’m too old to serve, I’m not too old to nag my GOP representative with emails on a daily basis, and protest on the streets when I can.

Happy 80th VE Day and Happy Mother’s Day.

Fuck Nazis.

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“American Patrol” by Glenn Miller 4