1. a) Who were the main Allied powers during WWII?
b) What countries made up the Axis?

2. What is VE Day?

3. How did France, which had been occupied by Nazi Germany during WWII, commemorate the 68th VE Day this week?

4. How did many people mark the day in Germany?

5. Watching the ceremony at the Tomb of Unknown Soldier in the city center of Warsaw, 90-year-old M. Paul said: "The war was over 68 years ago, it is history now, and history should be respected." What do you think Mr. Paul meant by that statement?

6. Veterans Day was originally Armistice Day. Armistice Day was celebrated every year on November 11th to commemorate the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning — the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918. The date was declared a national holiday in many allied nations, to commemorate those members of the armed forces who were killed during the war.

After World War II in the U.S., Armistice Day was changed to Veterans Day. Unlike other countries, where that calendar date is set aside specifically for honoring those who died in action, Veterans Day honors all American veterans, whether living, dead in action, or deceased from other causes. The official national remembrance of war dead in the U.S. instead falls on the late-May holiday of Memorial Day, which has been commemorated since the end of the Civil War.

Think about everything you have learned about WWII, the horrific Holocaust, and the number of American soldiers who lost their lives or were severely injured, and the sacrifices people made at home.
a) Do you think the U.S., like France and Poland and Russia, where the fighting actually place, should hold widespread commemorations to mark this historic end to WWII (or are Veterans Day and Memorial Day the only commemorations we need)? Explain your answer.
b) Ask a grandparent the same question.