Editor’s note: This story was originally published on May 7, 2024.
A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.
On May 7, 1945, Nazi Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France, ending its role in World War II.
Actually, historians remind us Germany surrendered twice that week. The military surrendered to the Western Allies in Rheims. The next day, Soviet officials, feeling as though they’d been snubbed at the moment of victory, demanded that the Germans surrender again to their representatives in Berlin.
Coverage of the historic events were spread out over several days, and the front pages of the Deseret News offer a glimpse of what Americans were learning about the war in Europe.
For example, the May 5, 1945, front page section shared a challenging story about a woman who believed her husband had died in fighting, and so had remarried.
Of 13 news items on the front page, a dozen addressed war issues.
Then, the May 7 front page is topped by the headline, “BRITISH PROCLAIM V-E DAY TOMORROW AS WAR ENDS.”
And we learned more about the bomber pilot and his wife.
“I would like to get a telephone call through to my wife,” Lt. Harold W. Goad, a bomber pilot from Portsmouth Ohio, said. “I just can’t decide anything until I talk to her.”
Per Associated Press reports, Goad’s plane exploded over Japanese-held Burma on Oct. 14, 1943, and he and two crew members survived. Though he was taken and held captive for 18 months, the Army reported Goad dead. Later, his wife married Ensign Robert A. MacDowell.
On the front page on May 8, 1945, President Harry S. Truman proclaimed:
“This is a solemn but glorious hour. General Eisenhower informs me that the forces of Germany have surrendered to the United Nations. The flags of freedom fly all over Europe.”
Truman also set aside the following Sunday, Mother’s Day, as a day of national prayer in dedication “to the memory of those who have given their lives to make possible our victory.”
The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the previous September had issued a letter calling for a day of prayer on the Sunday following V-E Day, “... that gloating and triumph over victory shall be submerged in our hearts by gratitude for ending of the conflict and by a love for our fellowmen and recognition of the common brotherhood of man.” It was signed by President Heber J. Grant, along with counselors J. Reuben Clark Jr. and David O. McKay.
And what of the saga of the bomber and his wife?
According the AP, Mrs. Helen MacDowell, wife of Ensign Robert A. MacDowell, who was on duty in the Pacific, decided she would stay with her first husband.
“Somebody’s got to be hurt in a thing like this,” she said. “For that I am sorry.
“If I had known he was alive this never would have happened. I hope he (Lt. Harold W. Goad) feels the same way about me.”
Here is a compilation of photos from V-E, or Victory in Europe Day.