VJ Day
Sixty years ago today (because Japan is on the far side of the International Date Line and therefore half a day ahead of us here in the Eastern Time Zone; so, there it is already August 15), the air, sea, and land forces of the Empire of Japan unconditionally surrendered to the Allies. The surrender ended a war that had been going on in one form or another since 1931, had engulfed large swaths of Asia and the entire Pacific Ocean, and had cost untold millions of lives. The swastika had been torn down months earlier, but only in August was the war finally, finally over.

The Second World War claimed more lives than any other conflict in history. That truly global slaughter ended sixty years ago today. The very least we owe our honored dead is to remember.