“END OF WAR!” the headlines screamed on September 2, 1945. Many decades later, we continue to recognize the significance of the end of World War II. The Allied victories over Germany (in May 1945) and over Japan (in August 1945) brought forth worldwide jubilation: after years of deprivation, hardship, and separation, peace was finally at hand. Recovery would pose new challenges, however. By 1945, the world had utterly, and irrevocably, changed. Here, the Veterans History Project presents collections that explore what the war’s end meant to some of the over 16 million Americans who served, and the costs of war that they confronted once the fighting was over.
