WWII Society Message

On Friday May 9, 2008, the inaugural Victory in Europe (V-E DAY) celebration hosted by the Tallahassee-Krasnodar?
Sister City Program will be held at The American Legion Hall at Lake Ella from 7 PM to 12 PM.

The original V-E DAY in 1945 celebrated the end of WWII in Europe and years of cooperation between Russia and
the United States to defeat Nazism.

WWII was preventable had the Western Allies avoided the
spineless policies of appeasement and unpreparedness in
the face of Hitler's threats. These policies helped pave the
way for Hitler's cancer to spread into what became known
as the Second World War. In fact President Roosevelt
asked British Prime Minister Winston Churchill "Winston,
what shall we call this war?" Churchill's reply, "Mr President,
the unnecessary war." Perhaps if the Allied leadership had
heeded the wisdom of George Washington, who felt the
best way to prevent war was to be prepared for war, Hitler
would not have been able to start World War II. The result
is that Hitler's lightly challenged invasions led to the
Holocaust and over 55 million dead during the war.


Peter W. Steuer

Russia endured the greatest loss of life with 27 million of its citizens killed because of Hitler's invasion of
their country, known as "Operation Barbarossa" on June 22,1941. Our sister city Krasnodar was captured by
German forces on August 9, 1942 and endured six months of brutal occupation by the Nazis. Over 17,000 townspeople
were killed before its liberation on February 12, 1943.

American Lend-Lease? Act aid to Russia in the form of trucks, aircraft, tanks, food (including SPAM), medicines and
clothing played a major role in helping to stem the NAZI hordes.|It is no wonder that V-E DAY, known as Victory Day in Russia is one of their national holidays. Why not have it as a national holiday in the United States?

One solution to avoid further conflicts is having sister city functions such as this V-E DAY / Victory Day celebration.It is much more cost effective to build bridges towards friendship and understanding with other countries thanendure the carnage of further "unnecessary wars."

I am honored to be the Master of Ceremonies of this event. The public is cordially invited to enjoy the food, entertainment, dancing and fellowship in celebrating freedom on V-E DAY on Friday May 9, 2008 at the American Legion Hall. Tickets are $10 at the door.

Sincerely, Peter W. Steuer
President
World War II Historical Society
Sunrisepete56@juno.com