CNN
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Britain’s King Charles and heir to the throne Prince William laid wreaths in Westminster Abbey on Thursday at the culmination of the country’s four days of commemorations to mark the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.

The thanksgiving service in the Abbey began with a two-minute silence, which was also observed across the country, to remember Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender, which took effect on May 8, 1945.

Charles and William, military medals pinned on their chest and standing beside elderly veterans in wheelchairs, laid wreaths at the the Grave of the Unknown Warrior, in a show of respect for those who gave their lives in World War Two.

The anniversary, which comes at a time of ongoing conflict in Europe with Russia’s war in Ukraine, was also marked with events in France and Germany, while Moscow will hold a major military parade on Friday.

Speaking at a defense conference in London on Thursday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the day a celebration of defiance, sacrifice and courage.

“A victory not just for Britain but for good against the assembled forces of hatred, tyranny and evil,” he said.

In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke of the “sacred” victory over Adolf Hitler, and said his country was standing against “neo-Nazism,” a characterisation of the current conflict in Ukraine that is strongly rejected by Kyiv.

Putin was holding talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is joining Russia’s celebrations.

French President Emmanuel Macron was due to lay a wreath at the statue of French wartime hero Charles de Gaulle in Paris and inspect a troop parade at the Arc de Triomphe. Dozens of World War Two-era vehicles will also parade down the Champs-Elysees avenue.

In Berlin, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will address the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany’s parliament,during a special remembrance session.

VE Day’s 80th anniversary will be one of the last major celebrations with living veterans attending events, as most are now in their 90s or older.

British veterans were among the congregation at Westminster Abbey in London. They will be greeted by Charles and his wife Queen Camilla after the service, before senior royals also lay flowers at a memorial nearby.

Veterans also attended a grand military parade and flypast close to Buckingham Palace on Monday, one of a series of anniversary events, in what has been a busy few days for Charles.

The monarch, 76, was last year diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer and is still undergoing treatment.

Later on Thursday there will be a concert at Horse Guards Parade for 10,000 people. Charles and Camilla will be in the audience to hear music and the stories of veterans.

President Donald Trump teased a significant trade announcement to be announced today — a source familiar with the administration’s plans tells CNN the deal will be with the United Kingdom.

It’s yet another sign of some possible relief from historically high tariffs that have threatened serious damage to the US and global economies.

In his post, Trump didn’t specify which country, but his administration has suggested it is in active negotiations with India, the United Kingdom, South Korea and Japan. Trump’s top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, told CNN Tuesday that he suspected the UK may be the first country to sign a trade agreement with the United States.

“I don’t know if it’s going to be the UK first or India first, it’s — we’ve got a little twist in the in this India story, so that might slow things down there, but I can assure the American people that there will be deals, and they will be very good deals for the American people,” Navarro said.

For weeks, Trump officials have said they are talking to more than a dozen countries and are nearing a deal, but none have been announced so far. Trump has frequently said he is in no rush to sign a deal, claiming that countries have been “ripping off” America for years and the high tariffs the United States has imposed will help balance trade.

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CNN
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He’s believed to be the last surviving person from inside the room of the little red schoolhouse in Reims, France, where German officers agreed to end World War II in Europe.

Eighty years ago, Luciano “Louis” Graziano witnessed history when the Nazis surrendered.

But this former American soldier has no special plans for Thursday, when Victory in Europe, or VE Day, is commemorated, saying every day is special to him now.

At 102, Graziano vividly remembers what he saw that day, when it was unclear whether the Germans would sign the surrender document.

“I saw a lot of straight faces,” he told CNN. “Germans were at the table, there were the British and the French and all the other officers.”

One man not there was Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was using the schoolhouse as the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force.

“He wasn’t in the room, he didn’t want to be in the room in case they decided not to sign the surrender,” Graziano said, wearing a World War II veteran baseball cap.

But Eisenhower did want to see the defeated officers, so the young American soldier took them to him.

“He wouldn’t shake hands with them. They clicked their heels together and he dismissed them,” Graziano said of the meeting.

Born in East Aurora, New York to Italian immigrants, Graziano was the youngest of five children. He left school after the eighth grade to work as a mason to help support his family. His mother, sister and brother worked as hairstylists, and he decided to follow in their footsteps. But in 1943, weeks before his 20th birthday, he was drafted into the Army.

Graziano completed his military training at various bases across the United States, including Fort Dix, before being shipped to England on the Queen Mary.
On the ocean liner, he slept one night in a bunk but he chose to sleep on deck in a life vest because the quarters were so tight — he felt like he had a better chance of surviving an attack on deck.

After spending months in England working in facility operations, Graziano was in the third wave of the D-Day attack on Omaha Beach. “I drove the gasoline truck onto the beach and got up under the cliff,” he said. “The Germans were shooting down at us. I got my flamethrower out and shot up underneath … and got rid of that machine gun.”

Once in France, Graziano became the utilities foreman in the 102nd Infantry Field Artillery Battalion, meaning he oversaw American-occupied buildings, including the little red schoolhouse.

While in Reims, he met his future wife, Eula “Bobbie” Shaneyfelt, then a Staff Sergeant in the Women’s Army Corps. They married in Reims, honeymooned in Paris after the surrender, and eventually moved to Thomson, Georgia, where they raised their family.

In the decades since the end of World War II, Graziano has never gone back to France, “I’ve been asked to go many times and have my way paid,” he said. “But I don’t care to go on that ocean again.”

Graziano isn’t doing anything out of the ordinary to celebrate VE Day, though he has interviews lined up with news outlets around the world to share his story.

He plans to spend the day at home — fitting for a man whose thoughts were of the US even as he watched the European conflict end.

“I was happy to be in that room,” he said of the surrender. “I knew I was going to get to go home soon after that.”