the guy that ended WWII.

On May 7, 1945, former Ripon College student Gregory Melikian was selected by Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force Gen. Dwight Eisenhower to send a coded message to the world that the Germans had unconditionally surrendered to the Allied Expeditionary Force, to take effect the following day.

Melikian was chosen because, at 20, he was the youngest radio operator on duty at Supreme Headquarters in Reims, France, where the Germans signed papers of surrender in the middle of the night.

On May 8, 2020, at the age of 95, Melikian was one of eight World War II veterans to participate in the 75th anniversary celebrations of VE-Day in Washington, D.C. He says he reminded President Donald Trump that they were two guys from Queens, and that brought a smile to Trump’s face.

Melikian had started college in New York when his draft number was called up during World War II. He was trained as a high-speed radio operator. Then, while waiting to ship out, he was sent for college courses — first at the University of Illinois and then for several months at Ripon College.

“Ripon has been in my mind all these years,” he says. “I’ll never forget that beautiful little college. It was a great part of my life.”

Melikian remembers he didn’t do very well in mathematics classes but “got straight A’s” in history, philosophy and psychology. He remembers visiting nearby communities. And he remembers when Wendell Willkie, the 1940 Republican nominee for president, visited Ripon. Years later, visiting Ripon with his children, Melikian discovered a photograph on display in the Little White Schoolhouse, historic birthplace of the Republican Party, showing himself and other students with Willkie.

He was sent to Ripon with three other cadets who attended classes in uniform. They called themselves The Invincible Four. He recently reconnected with one of those cadets, Ken Stone, who now lives in Virginia. Although they hadn’t seen each other in 65-70 years, they “talked for a long time on the phone last fall as if no time had passed,” Stone’s daughter, Hilary Martin, says.

“We remember the wonderful days at Ripon,” Melikian adds.

Melikian’s wartime honors include the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, American Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal and Meritorious Unit Award. He later was inducted as Chevalier (Knight) in the French Legion of Honor and received the 2013 Ellis Island Medal of Honor from The National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations.

After the war, credits he’d earned from Ripon helped get him into law school. He worked as a real estate attorney and a night court judge in New York City. After moving to Arizona 55 years ago, he bought and sold commercial buildings and served in the Air Force Reserves for more than 60 years, retiring as a brigadier general.

He helped found the Melikian Center for Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies, housed at Arizona State University, which provides instruction in various languages. “We believe in education and in learning of languages,” Melikian says. “We believe if you speak in each other’s languages, maybe you don’t have to go to war. Maybe there’s a better way than shooting each other.

“I’m against war to this day. My heroes are the ones who landed on D-Day (and served in battle). These boys are my heroes. I’m the peacemaker. The message I sent brought peace to 15.5 million people.”