Memorial Day 1945 fell on Wednesday, May 30. That was three weeks after Germany surrendered, and the war in the Pacific was still going. It was a day of sadness and relief at the same time, and the news that spring pulled people both ways.
Updated October 25, 2026.
What stands out about that spring is how many things were true at once. Victory in Europe was real, and the loss was still fresh. Nobody at home knew how much longer the Pacific would take. Most of us have had a week when good news and bad news landed together, and we didn’t know which one to react to.
Memorial Day 1945 was still Decoration Day
The holiday began as Decoration Day. On May 5, 1868, Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, head of the Grand Army of the Republic, a Union veterans’ group, issued an order setting aside May 30. It was a day for decorating the graves of Civil War dead. The first big ceremony took place at Arlington National Cemetery that day, according to the National Archives. After World War I the day grew to honor those lost in every American war. The date stayed at May 30, whatever day of the week it fell on. The national holiday law moved it to the last Monday in May in 1971. Today it is the traditional start of summer for most Americans, and the serious reasons behind it have faded for many.
V-E Day came three weeks earlier
The Allies formally accepted Germany’s unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945. More than one million people celebrated across the United Kingdom, and big crowds gathered in American cities, especially Times Square. President Harry Truman turned 61 that day and dedicated the victory to Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had died on April 12. Truman said his only wish was that Roosevelt had lived to see it.
The celebration came with dread attached. The war with Japan went on. Many soldiers who had just finished fighting in Europe feared they would be sent across the world instead of home. Anyone who has waited on news from someone far away knows how hard it is to enjoy a good day while you are still worried.
Big news kept piling up that spring. By then both sides knew how the war in Europe would end. In early May, millions of German soldiers gave up to the Allies in Italy, Austria, Bavaria and the Netherlands. Allied troops freed concentration camps, and Czechoslovakia and Denmark were freed from Nazi rule.
The Pacific war was still being fought
In mid-May, American forces were deep in the Battle of Okinawa, which had begun on April 1. Navy Medicine counts 12,520 Americans killed or missing there: 4,675 in the Army, 4,907 in the Navy and 2,938 in the Marine Corps. On May 14, a single kamikaze Zero crashed into the carrier USS Enterprise, killing 14 men and wounding 68. American planes also dropped firebombs on Tokyo, and General Douglas MacArthur had kept his promise to return to the Philippines. Out in the Pacific, new graves were being dug at places few Americans had heard of a year earlier: Saipan, Iwo Jima, Leyte, Peleliu.
A wreath for the late president on Memorial Day 1945
Roosevelt was buried at his family home in Hyde Park, New York. Truman sent a wreath that was laid on the grave on May 8. He had another placed there on Memorial Day, May 30, according to the National WWII Museum. As the day dawned, many ceremonies were solemn, and many families were thinking of sons and husbands who would not be coming home. On the West Coast, shipyards kept loading men and supplies for the costly invasions still expected. At the same time, people felt hopeful about the large numbers of servicemen who would soon return. Anyone who has waited for a loved one to come home knows that mix of worry and hope.
What the day asked of Americans
On that Memorial Day, people hoped battlefields would become things of the past. Sadly, that has not been the case. No one then could see the places where American forces would later have to make a stand: Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq and others.
So on this Memorial Day we honor the sacrifices of the men and women who have served our country or serve it now. We should promise never to forget that we could not enjoy this day, or honor the memories of so many, without the people who gave their last full measure of devotion to their country. Anyone who has said thank you and felt it wasn’t nearly big enough knows the feeling.
Memorial Day 1945: questions answered
What day of the week was Memorial Day 1945?
Wednesday, May 30. The holiday was fixed on May 30 every year, whatever the day of the week. The national holiday law moved it to the last Monday in May in 1971. That change also created the three-day holiday weekend Americans know today.
Had World War II ended by Memorial Day 1945?
Only in Europe. Germany’s unconditional surrender was accepted on May 8, 1945. The war with Japan continued, and the Battle of Okinawa was still under way. Truman called the European win a victory only half won. Japan’s surrender came later that year.
How many Americans died in the Battle of Okinawa?
Navy Medicine puts the American toll at 12,520 killed or missing: 4,675 in the Army, 4,907 in the Navy and 2,938 in the Marine Corps. Counting the wounded, total American casualties in the battle, which began on April 1, 1945, reached 49,151.