65th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe

Felix A. Cizewski's copy of the 45th Division News Extra edition, May 13, 1945, announcing the end of the war in Europe.

The full edition and larger images are on my family history web site: 45th Division News

(The original has been donated to the  

Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center
which hold the copyright on reproductions of this copy.)

---

65 years ago, my father, Felix A. Cizewski, got the news that Germany surrendered. The Germans had been defeated in the 45th Infantry Division's area of operations and the 45th had halted in and around Munich and Dachau a few days earlier. 

As positive as this was, Felix did not yet know his fate. At this point, nothing indicated that he was going home. Was he to remain in Germany on occupation duty or be transferred to the Pacific for the war with Japan.

---

For the first time, foreign troops were in the annual Moscow victory parade The U.S. unit was  C Company, 2nd Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. This unit's history includes landing on Omaha Beach in Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

Allied Troops to Join 10,500 Russian Soldiers in Victory Parade by Alexander Bratersky,The Moscow Times, May 7, 2010.

---

Best history of the 45th Infantry Division.	Best history of the end of the war in Europe.

Why Cinco de Mayo is also a U.S. holiday

General Sheridan (Image from the Library of Congress/No known restrictions on publication.)

Cinco de Mayo is more than Mexican cultural and historical event. It celebrates the post Mexican War friendship between our countries and American support for the Mexican struggle to regain independence from France.

In 1861, during the U.S. Civil War, France sent troops to Mexico and made Mexico into a French colony.

The U.S. was still committed to its foreign policy of opposing by force attempts to recolonize any American nation that had won their independence (the Monroe Doctrine). The Civil War prevented the U.S. from enforcing that policy. As Lincoln said regarding another dispute, only one war at a time.

However, Mexico resisted.  

On May 5, 1862, at Pueblo outside of Mexico City, Mexican irregulars, guerrillas, and militia defeated the invading French forces. 

While the French lost that battle, they still were able to capture Mexico City and impose colonial rule.

Despite losing their capitol and government, Mexico continued to resist.

Abraham Lincoln and the Union supported the Mexicans while the Confederacy hoped to trade support for the French colonization of Mexico for recognition of Confederate independence.

At Lincoln's order in late 1863 Union forces landed from the Gulf of Mexico and seized Brownsville, Texas as a show of force and a warning to France.

After the surrender of the Confederacy, 50,000 Federal troops under General Philip Sheridan were deployed to the Mexican border with Texas.

France withdrew and the Mexicans overthrew the colonial government, completing their struggle which began with their victory on the first Cinco de Mayo.

The success of the Mexican resistance restored Mexican independence and saved the U.S. from engaging in another war immediately after the Civil War.

That's something both nations can celebrate together.

---

I wrote this in reaction to white supremacists advocating making Cinco de Mayo "Turn in an Illegal Day".