LONDON - Even if the end of World War II in Europe spawned one of the most joyous days the continent ever lived, Thursday's 80th anniversary of V-E Day is haunted as much by the specter of current-day conflict as it celebrates the defeat of ultimate evil.

In 1541, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto becomes the first European colonizer to discover the Mississippi River. In 1909, President William Howard Taft announced he would continue the conservation policies put in place by his predecessor,

May 8 marks 80 years since the close of the European theater in World War II, when Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allies. The fighting in Europe stopped when the Chief of Staff of the German Armed Forces High Command,