By K.D. Norris
The 75th anniversary of the end of World War II — coming this week on Sept. 2 — will be commemorated locally with virtual ceremonies and a socially distant Grand Rapids area flyover of war-era military aircraft.
The Grand Rapids Greatest Day Celebration Committee and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation and Museum will host two days of celebration and remembrance of the “Greatest Generation” — Americans who grew up during the Great Depression and fought in World War II, or whose labor helped win the war — starting today, Tuesday, Sept. 1 and continuing Wednesday, Sept. 2.
On Sept. 2, 1945, with the Japanese and American signing of the Instrument of Surrender aboard the U.S. Navy battleship the USS Missouri, World War II was officially over.
The local events will begin today, Sept. 1, however, when there will be an “In Memoriam Remembrance and Bell Ringing”, at the Ford Museum, with guest speaker Jim DeFelice, beginning at 6 p.m. The event will be live-streamed on the museum’s Facebook Live page.
Promotional material for the event states: “Hear master storyteller (and) NY Times Bestselling author Jim DeFelice, known for his vivid, raw, and powerful portrayals of modern American military heroes, as he honors those who gave their life during the Second World War.”
The celebration will continue Sept. 2, at about 6 p.m., with the Grand Rapids area portion of a planned flyover of a three restored military aircraft: a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber, a Douglas C-47 Skytrain military transport, and a North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber. (See map below for approximate times and route.)
The planes, traveling to Grand Rapids from the Yankee Air Museum in Belleville, are set to make a pass along the Grand River, from north to south, near downtown Grand Rapids, and are expected then make at least one pass over the Wyoming and Kentwood area by flying over the Grand Rapids Veterans Outpatient Clinic in Wyoming before exiting the area.
The celebration will conclude with a another virtual event, “Countdown to 1945 with Chris Wallace” on Sept. 2, at 7 p.m., and also live-streamed on the museum’s Facebook Live page.
A veteran journalist and Fox News Sunday anchor, Wallace will be the keynote speaker of the Greatest Generation Day Celebration. According to supplied material, he will discuss his recently published book, “Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World.”
“Countdown 1945” delivers a behind-the-scenes account of the 116 days leading to the bombing on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and “goes beyond just the atomic bomb and shares accounts of ordinary American and Japanese civilians in wartime.”
During his journalism career, Wallace has covered almost every major political event, and interviewed U.S. and world leaders, including seven American presidents. Throughout his 50-plus years in broadcasting, Wallace has won every major broadcast news award, including three Emmy Awards and the Peabody Award.
