Following Germany's unconditional surrender, World War II in Europe officially ended at midnight on this day in 1945, although the war in the Pacific continued until the Japanese surrender in September.
| 1942: | | In the Battle of the Coral Sea, the USS Lexington became the first U.S. aircraft carrier to be sunk during World War II. |
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| 1884: | | | Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States (1945–53), was born in Lamar, Missouri. |
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| 1864: | | During the American Civil War, Union General Ulysses S. Grant engaged the Confederate forces of General Robert E. Lee at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia. |
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| 1846: | | | U.S. troops under General Zachary Taylor defeated a Mexican force under General Mariano Arista in the Battle of Palo Alto, the first clash of the Mexican War (1846–48). |
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| 1737: | | | English historian Edward Gibbon was born in Putney, Surrey. |
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