This will be brief simply because there is no way I could possibly say enough in a single post.

Seventy years ago today, the remnants of the government of the Third Reich unconditionally surrendered to the allied forces, bringing to an end the long, bloody trauma of World War II in Europe. Victory in Europe Day, better known as VE day, marked a singular milestone in human history. So much must be said about this, but, as I noted above, this medium is inadequate and I feel unequal to the challenge of doing justice to the story.

I will say this: though the cost was unimaginably enormous, that victory had to be won, and all of humankind is the better for that victory. I do truly believe this. And we owe gratitude and thanks to those who bore the struggle and its burdens, up to that “last full measure of devotion,” so that we can enjoy today what we have here and now.

I thank God my Parents’ generation was replete with heroes. I am just as grateful that heroes abound today. Though the scope and scale of the struggles be different, the courage, heroism, and patriotism are of much the same mettle and our gratitude ought be as well.

Jamie Rawson
Flower Mound, Texas

Without courage, all other virtues lose their meaning. — Winston Churchill