The Battle of the Bulge ends in German defeat.

February 4–11

President Franklin Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Premier Joseph Stalin meet at the Yalta conference.

*February 17

For heroic action off Iwo Jima on this day while serving on an LST (landing ship tank) under Japanese attack, Lieutenant Rufus Geddie Herring, United States Naval Reserve, a native of Roseboro, Sampson County, later receives the Medal of Honor. 

February 19

The U.S. Marines land on Iwo Jima. 

*February 20

In an attempt to save the lives of his fellow marines on Iwo Jima, Private First Class Jacklyn H. Lucas, United States Marine Corps, a native of Plymouth, Washington County, dives on two Japanese grenades. Lucas survives the explosions and later receives the Medal of Honor. 

March 3

American forces liberate Manila.

*March 24

Airborne and aviation units trained in North Carolina participate in Operation Varsity, landing behind enemy lines east of Germany’s Rhine River.

April 12

President Franklin Roosevelt dies at Warm Springs, Georgia.

April 30

Chancellor Adolph Hitler commits suicide in his Berlin bunker.

May 2

German forces in Italy surrender.

May 7

All German forces surrender unconditionally.

May 8

V-E Day (Victory in Europe) is declared.

*May 10

For heroic service on Okinawa on this day, Pharmacist’s Mate Second Class William David Halyburton Jr., United States Navy Reserve, a native of Canton, Haywood County, and resident of Wilmington, later receives the Medal of Honor posthumously.

June 26

The United Nations charter is signed in San Francisco.

*July 13

Rocky Mount native Colonel Westray Battle Boyce becomes staff director of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). Boyce enlisted in 1942 and served in North Africa, Europe, the southwest Pacific, and Japan.

July 16

The United States tests the first atomic bomb at Los Alamos, New Mexico.

July 16

Allied leaders including Roosevelt’s successor, President Harry Truman, attend the Potsdam Conference.

*August 6

The American B-29 Enola Gay drops the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The bombardier, Major Thomas W. Ferebee, grew up on a farm outside Mocksville in Davie County.

August 9

The United States drops the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan.

August 15

V-J Day (Victory over Japan) is declared.

September 2

Japanese leaders sign the Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri.

*September 5

The USS North Carolina arrives in Tokyo Bay, and thousands of North Carolinians land on the Japanese mainland as part of the occupation of Japan. Master Sergeant William S. Powell is sent to Yokohama, where he remains until late 1945. Powell later becomes an eminent North Carolina historian. 

*October 30

North Carolina celebrates Thirtieth Division Day.

November 20

The Nuremberg war crime trials begin.