Courtesy Photo | This is a news clipping from the May 8, 1945, edition of The Real McCoy newspaper at...... read more read more
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On May 8, 1945, Victory in Europe (VE) Day was declared for all the Allied nations fighting in World War II.
At then-Camp McCoy, Wis., which had spent the previous five years building up the installation and at the same time training hundreds of thousands of troops for the war effort, the news was celebrated by everyone on the post.
The news was captured in a special 4-page edition of The Real McCoy newspaper. Normally a weekly edition, the paper staff took the time to scour the news wires and the installation as well to fill this special edition.
In a lead story of that edition, entitled, “War in Europe ends — It’s official,” the end of the European part of conflict was explained.
“The European war ends officially at 4 p.m. Tuesday — nearly six years after Adolph Hitler and his Nazi gangsters began their aggression. That is when the last shot will be fired,” the article states.
“The official stamp on the war’s end in Europe was given at 8 a.m. Tuesday by President Harry S. Truman in a broadcast speech from the White House. At the same time, Prime Minister Churchill broadcast a victory proclamation from London, while Marshal Stalin announced victory from Moscow.
“President Truman proclaimed Sunday, May 13, a National Day of Prayer. He said, ‘This is a solemn but glorious hour.’ The actual signing of the peace document occurred at 7:41 p.m. (CWT) Sunday in a schoolhouse near Reims, France.
“The surrender came after Germany’s biggest cities were left in shambles from the merciless fire of Allied guns and planes. Not a single important German city the ravaging of Allied armies. In the West Cologne, Dusseldorf, Coblenz, Weisbaden, Saarbrucken, Frankfurt, Bremen, Hanover, Leipzig, and Duisburg were in ruins after Allied armies finished their task.”
The same issue also featured the commanders from the commanders of the 3rd Army, 1st Army, 9th Army, and 7th Army.
The article is called, “America’s Army chiefs speak on victory in Europe.” And shows quotes from the leaders.
“Gen. George S. Patton, 3rd Army commander: ‘Graves of our heroic dead line our historic march. It is a bitter price to pay and only one phase of the battle is over. An even more deadly enemy awaits us. We cannot for one instance slacken our efforts.’
“Gen. Courtney Hodges, 1st Army commander: ‘Hard work, hard fighting, and great sacrifices are still ahead for the home and battle fronts before victory can be achieved in the Pacific.’
“Lt. Gen. William Simpson, 9th Army commander: ‘Even though victory in Europe is complete, we cannot rest until Japan is utterly defeated. The 9th Army, if ordered, is ready to carry on in the Pacific, and will not rest until final victory against Japan.’
“Lt. Gen. Alex Patch, 7th Army commander: ‘We hope the peace to come will justify the sacrifices of our dead. May it not be long before the evil dragon of Pearl Harbor is forced back into his lair and slain.’”
The paper also reflected on famous units that had trained at Camp McCoy prior to going to war, including the famed 100th Infantry Battalion and the 76th Division, among others.
The decorated 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate) was one of the first units to train at Camp McCoy when it expanded in 1942. The battalion was activated June 12, 1942. It was composed of more than 1,400 second-generation, American-born Japanese men, also known as “Nisei” (NEE-say).
The War Department removed them from Hawaii out of fear of renewed Japanese attacks and also stopped accepting Nisei for military service. The battalion commander and some of the company-grade officers were Caucasian; the rest of its officers and enlisted men were Nisei.
In an Aug. 25, 1967, article for The Real McCoy, then-civilian employee Kenneth Koji recalled his time at Camp McCoy as a member of the 100th.
“The officers and men of the unit lived in tents, which reminded the men of basic training,” Koji wrote. “New Camp McCoy cantonment was under construction during 1942 and was ready for use in September, at which time we moved to the new post. Everyone was tickled to be on the New Post after months of tent city life.”
After training at Camp McCoy, Wis., and Camp Shelby, Miss., the battalion deployed to the Mediterranean in August 1943. As written in a Sept. 25, 1987, article in The Triad Newspaper at Fort McCoy, the 100th Infantry Battalion went out of its way to prove loyalty to the United States. “More than 1,400 Purple Heart medals were awarded to members of the battalion. Three Legion of Merit medals, nine Distinguished Service Crosses, 44 Silver Star medals, and a Congressional Medal of Honor were awarded to 100th Infantry Division personnel for exceptional service to their country during World War II,” the article states.
And the 76th Infantry Division history shows the division began training for war at Camp McCoy in September 1943 where the unit focused on winter training. This training focused on the use of skis, snowshoes, toboggans, snow tractors, snow goggles, winter camouflage suits, Eskimo parkas, and more.
Written in a training notebook by Staff Sgt. Melvin Wagner with Company B, 417th Infantry Regiment, 76th Infantry Division, while training at Camp McCoy for that winter training, he made an important note.
“The colder it gets, the more a man thinks to himself — to hell with his equipment,” Wagner wrote in the composition book donated to the Fort McCoy History Center. “It is the responsibility of NCOs to check men constantly.”
Wagner’s training notes also covered everything from diagrams of skis and snowshoes as well as conduct of how to properly teach winter skills. As a noncommissioned officer, it was likely he was teaching other Soldiers the same skills he had learned.
The history of the 76th also shows that while operating from Camp McCoy, an “advanced training group moved in November 1943 to Northern Michigan (the Upper Peninsula) to near Watersmeet.”
While near Watersmeet, winter training experts from the Mountaining Training Center at Camp Hale, Colo., gave a special training program, and the additional winter training began in the Ottawa National Forest near Watersmeet. Watersmeet is approximately 210 miles north of Fort McCoy — just across the Michigan-Wisconsin border.
A training schedule that was issued by the 76th Infantry Division Winter Training Detachment for the week of Nov. 22-28, 1943, for the “Watersmeet Area, Michigan” from the 76th leadership, Maj. Eric. E. Wikner, at Camp McCoy.
The schedule includes “character of training” subjects in multi-hour blocks throughout the days such as “critique on shelters and bivouacs, winter first aid, security of small units, stream crossings, infiltration at night on snowshoes, sniping and range estimation, dummy positions and trails in snow, infiltration and ambush small units,” and “conditioning exercises and close-order drill.”
Soldiers with the 76th trained in Michigan until March 1944 while others continued training throughout at Camp McCoy. By November 1944, trains headed from Camp McCoy to Camp Myles Standish in Massachusetts for staging before transport to Europe, the history shows. On Thanksgiving Day 1944, three transports sailed from the Boston port of embarkation to Europe.
The unit would then fight on through the Battle of the Bulge, and more, with numerous Soldiers in the unit earning medals for heroism. The unit’s history also recalls where the unit was as VE day approached.
“The attack continued in conjunction with the 6th Armored Division; Langensalza fell, and the Gera River was crossed, April 11. Zeitz was captured after a violent struggle, April 14–15, and the 76th reached the Mulde River on April 16, going into defensive positions to hold a bridgehead across the Mulde near Chemnitz until Victory in Europe Day in 1945.”
And on May 8, 1945, even Camp McCoy Post Commander Col. George M. MacMullin published his thoughts in The Real McCoy special edition, stating “half the battle won.”
“Half the battle is won,” MacMullin said. “A larger task lies ahead of us. Millions of men in the Pacific theater are looking to us to not let them down. We must redouble our efforts. There is a huge task ahead of us until complete victory is ours.
“Every Camp McCoy officer, enlisted man, and civilian worker can be proud of his share in V-E. Our McCoy-trained troops played a glorious role in the triumph over the Nazis,” MacMullin said. “McCoy men were among the first to cross into Germany. They spearheaded the drives which drove to Berlin. We must remain at our stations. This is a day of thanksgiving.”
As history shows, the camp continued full-steam ahead to continue the war effort. Eighty years later, that effort by McCoy people has also showed what they accomplished was memorable and historic.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy,” on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/fortmccoywi, and on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@fortmccoy.
Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
| Date Taken: | 05.08.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 05.08.2025 17:43 |
| Story ID: | 497449 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 17 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Victory in Europe Day 1945: Remembering reactions at Camp McCoy 80 years ago, by Scott Sturkol, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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