You're listening to a bonus episode of the Daily Article podcast, presented by the Denison

Forum and featuring Dr. Jim Denison.

Hi, I'm Jim Denison with Denison Forum, and this is the Daily Article Special Edition

for May the 8th, 2020.

75 years ago today, the Allies accepted Nazi Germany's unconditional

surrender of its armed forces ending World War II in Europe. This event is known as VE Day for

victory in Europe. Today would have seen large celebrations of gratitude and festivities honoring

the living veterans of the war. However, the coronavirus pandemic has forced these events to be

staged mostly online. Queen Elizabeth II is delivering a televised message, and students in France

are doing what they can to honor those who liberated their nation from the Nazi occupation.

They started writing last year to veterans in Britain, thanking them for taking part

in the Normandy invasion. Now that the students and the elderly men are living under lockdown,

they have been sharing stories about their lives during the pandemic. One of the veterans

had his daughter take videos of him around the house while he identified what he saw so the students

could work on their English.

He also began studying French so he could talk with them in their language. His exchanges with

the French teenagers as he said let daylight into this dark time of lockdown. My father fought

in World War II, though he was stationed in the South Pacific and did not see action in the European theater.

My grandfather, however, fought in World War I and thus contributed directly to winning what was called at the time the Great War.

Neither of them would speak of their service. Both witnessed horrific atrocities and paid an emotional price for the rest of their lives.

After 30 trips to Israel, it remains impossible for me to imagine the horrors of the Holocaust.

Now imagine a world in which Hitler won the war.

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