WWII veteran Charles Lauer rings bell to mark end of conflict against Japan in 1945

The 97-year-old World War II veteran tolled the memorial bell five times to mark the 78th anniversary of the conflict’s end at a ceremony at the Museum of American Armor in Old Bethpage on Saturday.

In 1945, Charles Lauer was aboard the USS Chicago on Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrendered, glad that the war that took millions of lives was over and hoping to get back to Brooklyn, his hometown.

The Navy veteran recalled those events to a crowd of about a dozen outside the museum, telling them how he sought to relax after the constant worries about kamikaze planes and Japanese submarines.

“When you're at war, and especially at sea, you're never completely relaxed,” he said. “You might [think] you are but you're not.”

The anniversary of the end of the global conflict comes as many of the people who witnessed it have died or are in their twilight years.

“You have incredible Long Islanders, like Mr. Lauer, who still have a very powerful story to tell that connects us to the past and by definition, our future,” said Gary Lewi, vice president of the museum.

Lewi added it's important for the next generation to learn this history and start asking questions.

Among the crowd were two of the next generation — Kyle Lopez, 11, and his brother Luke, 10. Both enjoyed the event. 

“It really brings back history from the past times, like the Vietnam War, World War II, World War I,” said Luke Lopez, who deferred to his brother.

Kyle Lopez noted that it was “great to speak” to a veteran of Lauer’s generation.

Inside the museum, Lauer, who lives at an assisted living facility in Holtsville and moved to Long Island in the 1950s, talked further about his life. Children and their parents asked him questions about World War II, and he gladly obliged them with war stories of funny and serious nature.

Lauer was a 17-year-old resident of the Flatbush area of Brooklyn when he decided to enlist in the Navy in the 1940s. He used the GI Bill to attend Rutgers University and later became an educator.

He also oversaw several school districts, including those in Floral Park and Smithtown.

Now looking back on World War II, and all its horror, Lauer maintains: “I was blessed.”

With Matthew Chayes

By Tiffany Cusaac-Smith

tiffany.cusaac-smith@newsday.com@T_Cusaac

Tiffany Cusaac-Smith is a general assignment reporter for Newsday. She previously worked at USA TODAY and is an alum of Howard University.