World War II veterans celebrated at Fort Miles Museum for the 8th annual Victory over Japan ceremony

LEWES, Del. – September 2nd, 1945, was the day Japan surrendered to the United States. On Monday, the Fort Miles Museum hosted an event to celebrate the veterans who served during the World War II.

WWII veteran, John Reichert was honored to receive the plaque, but he said he was even caught off guard.

“It was a surprise to me, my number one son was here, so it was a big surprise,” Reichert said, “but it was very nice, I got a lot of my family who was here and it’s great to meet these other people that have survived and got through all of this.”

Reichert’s, Paul Reichert, said that his father is old-school and that this ceremony deep down, means a lot to him. “He doesn’t speak much, and most like his generation that came out of the war most of these old service guys that went through World War 2 never spoke about it when we were younger, this means a lot,” he said.

The museum pulled out all the stops—senators and councilmen, among others, were in attendance for the ceremony. Vice President of the museum, Will Short said their mission is to remind people of the role Delaware played in the war. “The most important part of the ceremony is to honor Delawareans who were killed serving the country in World War II,” he said.

“Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always,” said General Douglas MacArthur, his last line in the Japan surrender speech, on this day, September 2nd, 79 years ago.