101-year-old vet recalls 'fight for civilization' 80 years after V-E Day

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101-year-old vet recalls 'fight for civilization' 80 years after V-E Day

For Jack Appel, 101, the Allies' victory in Europe − made official on May 8, 1945 − wasn't just vital because otherwise, as he said, \"we'd all be speaking German now.\"\"World War II was a major, major fight for civilization,\" the World War II veteran told USA TODAY this week as the globe marks the 80th anniversary of V-E Day.\"Civilization\" is no casual choice of words for Appel, a Brooklyn native now living in Boca Raton, Florida. He was among the first Americans to see the Buchenwald concentration camp, abandoned by the Nazis as the Allies closed in. Appel, who ..