May 8th Events

From the BBC:
"Poland to host WW2 commemoration with Gdansk ceremony"

European leaders are due to gather in the Polish port of Gdansk to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Europe. A midnight ceremony is to be held at nearby Westerplatte, where the first shots of the war were fired. The anniversary is also being marked by other events around the world over the weekend. However, a military parade in Moscow on Saturday is being boycotted by most Western countries. Relations between Russia and the West have been soured by Russia's annexation of Crimea last year and support for rebels in eastern Ukraine. In a weekend interview with the Gazeta Wyborcza daily, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski said the end of World War Two did not bring freedom to eastern Europe because states were "subordinated against their will" by the Soviet Union. Events in Gdansk will be attended by the presidents of several countries including Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania and Ukraine, Mr Komorowski's office said. France is to send Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Germany will send former president Horst Koehler, AFP news agency reported.

 

In other events on Friday to mark the end of World War Two in Europe:

• Germany's parliament will meet in special session
• French President Francois Hollande will attend a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris
• In London, a remembrance service will be held at The Cenotaph and beacons will later be lit across the country
• In the US, a ceremony will be held at the National World War Two memorial in Washington followed by a flypast of vintage fighter planes

Nazi Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, shelling a Polish garrison at Gdansk. The UK and France declared war on Germany two days later.

^ This is the first place I have seen any comment on what the US is doing to remember the 70th anniversary of V-E Day. ^

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32619704