Guess Biden was too busy with something else to make note of the day.
Does he even know what day of the week it is? What month? What year?
Biden did indeed issue a proclamation to observe this day:
“Today the children of Europe...I love kids! The African nations celebrate the conquest of Atlanta in the Civil War where laser guided nuclear weapons did something about the 33rd Annual Berkeley Hills bicycle race. Beavers are building levees in Texas and we’re building high speed rail to Guam!”
My mother and her family were caught up in one of those pockets. Although she lived with her grandmother during the school year, mom came home to be with her family in the last days of the war. My grandfather had wanted the family to face the final stage together - come what may. They had lived under Nazi occupation for the duration of the war, and grandfather didn't expect it to end peacefully. People were dancing in the streets in London and New York, but their city was still at war.
The last night was horrific. Wehrmacht and SS were shooting each other, because the SS didn't want to give up while Wehrmacht just wanted to go home. Russians were at the periphery. Partisans were being rounded up and shot, buildings were burning. She said they heard shooting all night but couldn't always tell who was shooting whom.
My grandfather was afraid for the family because they were known to all parties and he didn't know who might have it in for them. They left their house and spent the night fleeing from place to place to avoid the conflict. They spent part of it in a ditch, which they fled when shooting erupted near them. They spent most of the night on a metal platform inside a well. My grandfather had a lumber mill, and there was a large well inside the boiler room. Grandfather and my uncle lifted the well cover in the floor of the boiler room, and the whole family sheltered inside the well. My mother was 19, and spent the night thinking about all the things she'd miss out on if she died that night - as she expected she would.
My mother and her family survived the night. Sadly, a second lumber mill in the city burned down that night. My great uncle heard of it, and erroneously told my great-grandmother that the family mill had burned down. She imagined the worst and suffered a severe stroke. She died before Christmas of the effects of her stroke.
Mother said the SS lurked in the forests near them for another 6 weeks or so, creating ongoing 'clean-up' opportunities for the occupying Russian soldiers. They had six Russian soldiers quartered in their home after the war. They were just country boys whose manners had deteriorated during their wartime service. My grandmother whipped them into shape by scolding them over washing their hands and cleaning off their muddy shoes. They helped her bake cookies and were kind to my mother and her younger siblings.
Mother turned 20 shortly after the end of the war. Grandmother had always intended to have a nice tea party for her oldest daughter on the occasion of her 20th, so she went ahead despite the post-war chaos. She collected all the food she could for the occasion, invited friends and family, and also included the quartered Russian soldiers. During the tea party, the soldiers got called away to deal with an SS soldier in the forest. When they returned from their work, they brought mom a new pair of shoes. New shoes were unheard of in 1945, and of course she didn't ask too many questions about their provenance. They didn't fit, but she swapped with a friend and came out ahead in the deal. She has fond memories of those Russian boys who were just about her own age.
Mom has many stories to tell. Fortunately, she is still cognitively sharp, and she continues to document her life experiences. She will be 96 this month.