V-E Day (Victory in Europe) celebrated the end of that campaign, but after the Nazis had been beaten, we were still fighting the Japanese in the Pacific.ĭuring the Pacific campaign, we fought many battles with the IJN in 1942-43, losing most of them, while we slowly got our industrial capacity online to start cranking out warships. Looking back at the war, the European theatre had always been the more 'sexy' of the two, and most people know about the German conquest of France, the London Blitz, the Russian Campaign, D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, and the eventual defeat of Italy and Germany. Germany/Italy responded by declaring war on us, and we were in a war in two hemispheres. FDR, before Congress, gave his "day of infamy" speech, and the US declared war on Japan. This was done with premeditation and without a declaration of war. with my family for a wedding this weekend, and have learned that today (the 2nd Monday in August) is a state holiday - Victory Day - recognizing the end of World War II.įor recent graduates of late 20th Century public schools, you might have been subjected to a revisionist form of history, so Uncle Kenbuzz will summarize how World War II began and ended for the US:ĭecember 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy launch a sneak attack against the US Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.