On May 8, 1945, both Great Britain and the United States
celebrated Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations,
as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe,
put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the
Nazi war machine during World War II.

Canadian soldiers celebrating VE-Day, Piccadilly Circus, London, England.

On April 29, 2004, the World War II Memorial opened in
Washington, D.C. to thousands of visitors, providing
overdue recognition for the 16 million U.S. men and
women who served in the war. The memorial is located
on 7.4 acres on the former site of the Rainbow Pool at
the National Mall between the Washington Monument
and the Lincoln Memorial. The Capitol dome is seen to
the east, and Arlington Cemetery is just across the
Potomac River to the west.

Muhammad Ali, the reigning world heavyweight boxing champion, entered the combative ring of politics and culture by refusing to
serve in the United States military at the height of the Vietnam
War on this day in history, April 28, 1967.

"I ain’t got no quarrel with those Vietcong," Ali famously said the
year before, the exact quote the source of some dispute, in a
battle that made it all the way to the United States Supreme
Court. The Vietnam War was at its heights at the time.
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Ali was convicted and given five years in prison for refusing induction in to the United States draft as mandated by the Selective Service Act.

Dolly Marshall, left, and Clarice Lafreniere.

The highest civilian honor in the United States has been awarded
to two of Oregon’s own.

Clarice Lafreniere and Dolly Marshall were granted a Congressional
Gold Medal. It was part of a ceremony honoring hundreds of Rosie
the Riveters.

Lafreniere learned about the Pearl Harbor attack over the radio,
the same day that she gave birth to her daughter. Two years
later she was working as a welder and burner at the Kaiser
shipyard on Swan Island in Portland.

Marshall was was in high school when she worked as a plane
spotter in New Jersey.
(by KATU Staff)

Rosie The Riveter by Norman Rockwell (1943) 

ROSS SIMPSON

Merle Haggard received many honors and awards for
his music, including a Kennedy Center Honor (2010);
a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2006); a BMI
Icon Award (2006) and induction into the Nashville
Songwriters Hall of Fame (1977), Country Music Hall
of Fame (1994) and Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame
(1997). He died on April 6, 2016—his 79th birthday—
at his ranch in Shasta County, California, having
recently suffered from double pneumonia.