MAY 8, 1945, BROUGHT NEWS of the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. The warships off Okinawa commemorated this historic occasion by launching one of the most awesome and sustained naval bombardments of the Pacific War. But for men in the trenches, V-E Day was met with shrugs and grimaces. The event seemed barely relevant to their own predicament. If V-E Day meant that troops and airplanes would be redeployed from Europe, it was to be welcomed. But they angrily spurned suggestions that it should be celebrated.
