On May 7, 1945, the German High Command signed the unconditional surrender to the Allies in Reims, France, marking the end of the European Theater of World War II. We observe the surrender today on May 8 as V-E Day, Victory in Europe Day.
Seventy years later, Maine veterans of that war are proud of the roles they played. They’re also left with memories — some sad, some funny, but all vivid — of their service.
Harold Beal, 89, of Southwest Harbor still carries a heavy burden from his experience landing in Normandy on D-Day. Georgia Randall, 101, of Belfast, recalls her time as an Army nurse as years of “learning.”
Others, like Norm Rossignol, can remember when it all ended — via an unanticipated but welcome call while he was out in the field in Czechoslovakia. “Stop killing krauts,” his captain said on the other end. “The war is over.”
In honor of this special anniversary, here are a few of their tales.
Harold Beal joined the United States Navy Amphibious Force when he was just 17 years old, and was a gunner’s mate on a Higgins Landing Craft on the day he’ll never forget. It was June 6, 1944. You probably know it better as D-Day.
Beal was in the first wave trying to land in Normandy when a shell struck and sank his boat. Only he and three other Navy men survived. After swimming to another boat, Beal landed on Omaha Beach, but the rough water turned the craft sideways, and heavy fire rained down on the men.
“We jumped over the side of the boat, landed in pinkish-red water,” Beal said softly. “And from that point on that day, I don’t remember nothing until late that afternoon up on the beach.”
That day, Harold Beal was a part of the beginning of the end of war in Europe.
Married for 67 years, Nancy and Guy Ellms of Dexter are both WWII veterans. They say the secret to their lasting marriage is that they have always liked each other and are always kind to one another.
“War was hell,” said Nancy. “He was thankful he was alive and I was thankful he was alive. Neither one of us ever tried to hurt the other one’s feelings.”
Guy was drafted right after Pearl Harbor and served 3½ years in the U.S. Army’s 433rd Anti-Aircraft Battalion as a truck driver. Guy landed in Casablanca in the North Africa campaign and then continued on to the European Theater, where he saw action in Italy, France and Germany.
“We were an anti-aircraft unit. We’d see them come down through the clouds. They’d level off and you’d see their bomb separate from the plane. All you could do was watch. They’d drop that bomb and all you’d feel is the ground shake,”
Guy was in Germany on May 7, 1945, when the European conflict ended.
Nancy served with the WAVES — Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service — in Washington, D.C. She joined near the end of the war, and Navy men were being discharged. “And didn’t they like me,” said Nancy with a chuckle, “cause I would have their discharge papers.”
Discharge day remains a special occasion for the couple: On the day of her own discharge from the service, Nancy met a handsome Army veteran named Guy Ellms.
At 101 years old, Georgia Randall of Belfast recalls her time in the Army Nurse Corps. “They weren’t easy years. They were learning years.”
After joining in April 1942 at the age of 29, Georgia boarded the troopship USS America bound for the South Pacific. Crammed into a small cabin with 14 other nurses, she learned that their water supply for the next 14 days consisted of a full bathtub, which they would share.
“So we said we’d bathe in a Dixie cup,” Georgia chuckled. After a two-week journey, and one tub of water, she finally arrived in Melbourne, Australia. From there she spent much of her 3½ years at a 250-bed station hospital in New Guinea.
Georgia emphasizes that when she thinks back on her war time, she has pushed back the thoughts of all the injuries and doesn’t discuss them.
“I always refer to the way we lived, not what we saw,” she said.
And she has plenty of colorful stories of life outside of the hospital and living 3 degrees from the equator.
One night when it was too hot to sleep, Georgia recalls telling a friend they should go skinny dipping. “Which we did!” she said with a laugh and a shake of her head. Some of the GIs dug out an area for a makeshift pool and filled it with mountain stream water.
Georgia laughs when she remembers the time in Australia when she had just taken a cake out of the oven when they had an alert.
According to regulations, that meant she and her fellow nurses had to scramble into a foxhole.
Georgia arrived promptly … cake in hand.
“Oh, I got teased over that,” she said. Her defense was simple. “Girls, if we hadn’t been told we could leave right away, how long do you suppose we’d have been there before we ate the cake?”
George Chalmers, 90, of Bangor, left the University of Maine to join the U.S. Navy in 1942. His experience was similar to thousands of others: His nation was at war. And it was up to his generation to answer the call.
“A lot of men in college were leaving,” Chalmers said. “It’s just what people did then.”