Veterans left in limbo as virus hits Nazi defeat anniversary

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By RAF CASERT

BRUSSELS (AP) — On Friday’s 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, talk of war is afoot again — this time against a disease that has killed at least a quarter of a million people worldwide.

Instead of parades, remembrances and one last great hurrah for veterans now mostly in their nineties, it’s a time of coronavirus lockdown and loneliness, with memories bitter and sweet — sometimes with a lingering Vera Lynn song evergreen in the background.

For so many who went through the horrific 1939-1945 years and enjoyed peace since, Friday felt as suffocating as the thrill of victory was liberating three quarters of a century ago.

“WE ARE AT WAR!”

It sounded like a cry from some past, bellicose era or a Hollywood movie, but instead it was French President Emmanuel Macron speaking in a March 16 national address. He used the phrase “we are at war” six times to emphasize the threat of COVID-19 to his country as he announced a lockdown well-nigh unprecedented since World War II in its restrictions on personal freedoms.



In this May 1, 2019 file photo, World War II and D-Day veteran Charles Norman Shay, from Indian Island, Maine, salutes the grave of fellow soldier Edward Morozewicz at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France. Instead of parades, remembrances, embraces and one last great hurrah for veteran soldiers who are mostly in their nineties to celebrate VE Day, it is instead a lockdown due to the coronavirus, COVID-19. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/d00011ba6f614597f0e35c87cd3c4d73

[marble falls]

1. The Axis didn't get them, but Trumpvirus just might.

[abqtommy]

2. We are not at war with a pandemic although it will take a determined effort to take control

and minimize its effects. At this moment in history we are looking at the beginning of a new and very real war to take up the determined task of defeating world-wide fascism again and I hope that
our veterans from WWII will survive to cheer us on and see us victorious against the pandemic threat
and the fascist threat that they worked so hard to thwart so many years ago.

[smb]

3. Now, Now, Now...

...you can't very well expect the Trumpy crew to work on their day of mourning!