"Why Porter? He was one of the best. Why just hours before the war ended?" (Memoir, page 178)

In 1983 Charles Remsburg discovered a cache of 194 letters he'd written to his parents during World War II, when he served in Europe in the infantry and as a public relations officer. He used them to write an excellent memoir. His second assignment, coming in March 1945, seemed to have taken him out of harm's way, but on May 7, one of his best buddies, also a PR man, was killed by a German shell. The next day, the end of the hostilities in Europe was announced, and Remsburg felt a kind of bitter relief, expressed eloquently on pages 177-180 of his memoir.

"Here we were in the middle of Germany, with the war over--our job done."

Paul R. Allen's story

"We were part of the VE Day Parade. They invited all of the troops...to march in full uniform.."

Isabelle V. Cook's story

"...I had driven through Rheims the day that General Jodl was signing the surrender documents..."

John Ernest Dolibois' story

"We were scared to go out the gate because the women were waiting for us..."

Ed Goodwin's story

"Truman was giving his speech about the war being over and suddenly the German planes came over..."

Edward Wallace Hopkins' story

"We... could see the German and Italian prisoners of war sitting down at the same table with white soldiers..."

Walter Morris' story

"There was a combination of solemn gratitude along with jubilant celebration."

Arthur B. Scattergood's story