On May 7, 1945, Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allied forces. The next day, at the insistence of the Soviets, Germany signed a second surrender document in Berlin, which became known as Victory in Europe Day, or VE Day.
Although World War II was not yet over — Japan continued to fight the United States and its allies in the Pacific — Germany's capitulation marked a critical moment for the American troops who had been battling Nazi forces on the continent.
Harry Miller, a soldier in the 740th Tank Battalion, was in the lakeside town of Schwerin in northern Germany when his unit got the news.
"Some of us lay down and went to sleep," he recalled. "Some of us were patting each other on the back. Some were shaking hands. And some just couldn't believe it."
Now 96 and living at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, D.C., Miller shared his story with NPR ahead of the 80th anniversary of one of the most pivotal days of World War II.
Growing up in Columbus, Ohio, during the Great Depression, Miller attended local military parades featuring veterans from the Civil War and World War I. "I always wanted to be with them, and for some reason I just couldn't get over wanting to be in the service," he said.
He joined the Army at age 15, telling the recruiter he was older, and went through basic training at Fort Knox in Kentucky before being sent to the former Fort Ord in California. From there, Miller was sent off to France in the fall of 1944, and spent some time moving between assignments in France and Belgium.
Miller's unit played a key role in the biggest and bloodiest battle ever fought by American troops, the Battle of the Bulge, which started in December 1944.
In Stoumont, Belgium, soldiers cobbled together several M4 Sherman tanks and an M36 tank destroyer, Miller said. One day in late December, the American forces encountered three advancing vehicles from the 1st SS Panzer Division and destroyed them. The Germans retreated.
"The word got out that we were a tough little outfit because in our first half hour of combat we stopped the 1st SS Panzer, which was quite a deal, so we became quite famous all of the sudden" he said. "I was more amazed than anything because, knowing the condition those tanks were that we put together, it was bad."
The 740th Tank Battalion fought its way across the treacherous Siegfried Line — a lengthy German defensive barrier several miles deep that included concrete obstacles known as dragon's teeth. It also breached the barbed-wire fences at Wöbbelin, a subcamp of the Neuengamme concentration camp that was discovered by American troops on May 2, 1945, Miller said.
Germany surrendered to the Allies on May 7.
"I was 15 when I went in, 16 in the Bulge. War ended. Two months later, I was 17. And I've never regretted a day of it," he said.
Miller coped with the seriousness of the war by maintaining a sense of humor and finding joy where he could. "I found out that you can walk around with a glum face or you can see the humor in things," he said.
That didn't mean ignoring the brutality around him. Miller stayed in Europe for another three years after the war, allowing him to bond with fellow service members and meet in the evenings to commiserate about their experiences. "You were discussing all these things that bothered people, and I found that it just takes it all away," he said. "You could see some comedy in that too, but you had to talk it out."
One aspect that still makes Miller emotional is the memory of the concentration camps. After the war ended, he visited the Dachau concentration camp and noticed gray residue on the floor of the crematorium. "I realized that it was the ashes of people that they had burned up in the ovens, and I broke down. I cried like a baby," he said. "There I was walking on maybe thousands of bodies or parts of people and not knowing it, and it really got to me all of the sudden."
Miller went on to serve in the Korean War, and later he joined the Air Force, serving in the Vietnam War as well. He retired with the rank of senior master sergeant in 1966.
Today, Miller says he likes to share his story to help others understand the futility of war and hopefully inspire them to prevent similar conflicts from happening again.
"I hope, I hope people will see the futility of it all, because look at Germany. Look at Japan. Look at Vietnam. Look at Korea," he said. "Everything is beautiful over there now, and it could've stayed that way, but no, we had to have a war."
Copyright 2025 NPR