There was precious little in the newscasts and in the newspapers about the 75th anniversary celebrated last Friday. For those who read “On This Date” on p. 2 of the Marshall Independent, the following was the hint of what had been originally celebrated on May 8, 1945: “President Harry S Truman announced on radio that Nazi Germany’s forces had surrendered, and that ‘the flags of freedom fly all over Europe.’ “ In Saturday’s “On This Date” there was another reference: “In 1945, with World War II in Europe at an end, Soviet forces liberated Czechoslovakia from Nazi occupation.” By now I would guess that those who are older than I am are remembering V E Day, Victory in Europe.

President Donald Trump did appear briefly on TV news shows with Melania laying a wreath at the WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C. However, there was no speech given there, but he individually greeted a number of veterans of WWII who were present.

Though I was only in second grade at the time, it was the second time in 1945 that it was clear even to young school kids that a momentous event had occurred. Less than a month before had been President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s death and funeral. My memory of that was sitting by the radio with my parents listening to the funeral procession that took FDR from Union Station to the White House on April 14.

FDR seemed to have a love/hate relationship with many Americans. I probably have mixed memories of the broadcast of the funeral procession, but I can hear the quote of William Allen White’s tribute to FDR’s bravura leadership in the war: “We who hate your gaudy guts, salute you.” He was buried at Hyde Park, N.Y., on April 15. My memory of V E Day was more along the line of trying to grasp the meaning of what that meant.

Hitler died on April 30, 1945.

Fourth and fifth momentous events were in August of 1945. On Aug. 5 the first Atomic Bomb was dropped on Japan and on August 14, 15 was V J Day. And it was over.

jtr

What comes to my mind when I think about the end of WWII, is the great relief that seemed to be the general feeling of my family and friends. That feeling is replayed when, in my mind, I hear Vaughn Munroe singing,

“When the lights go on again all over the world

And the ships will sail again all over the world

Then we’ll have time for things like wedding rings and free hearts will sing

When the lights go on again all over the world.”

Actually Vaughn Munroe recorded the song by Bennie Benjamin, Sol Marcus, and Eddie Seiler in 1942 and it led the popular charts in 1943.

I cannot help but compare WWII with our current war against the pandemic coronavirous. Unfortunately, I doubt that the end of our current war will be as abrupt as the end of WWII. Both will have had their effects felt on our personal lives such as mentioned in the “lights on again” song regarding weddings, for example. Our current war is against a deadly, but non-human opponent.

jtr

Another picture from my mind’s eye is that of the sailor kissing the woman in white in the middle of Times Square NYC on V J Day, Victory over Japan Aug. 14, 15, 1945. The sailor and the woman did not know one another. It was the exuberance of the moment. Only later and with a number of interviews did it become believed that the picture taken by Life Magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt had captured Sailor George Mendonsa kissing a dental assistant Greta Zimmer. Eisenstaedt had not bothered to find their names at the time the picture was taken.

Zimmer and Mendonsa were both single. Zimmer married Mischa Friedman in 1956, had two children and died at age 92 in 2016. Mendonsa was married in 1946, celebrated over 70 years of marriage with two children and died in 2019.

I found it interesting that two of the three above named were not born in the U.S. Zimmer was born in Austria and photographer Eisenstaedt was born in Germany.

jtr

WWII had quite a different effect on England than on the U.S. England’s memories are possibly stronger than ours. This year, Queen Elizabeth II did give an address to her citizens and the world. She noted that at the same hour that she was speaking only 75 years earlier, her father, King George VI, had given a message to his subjects and the world. His message had been, “… to the men and women at home and abroad who had sacrificed so much in pursuit of what he rightly called “a great deliverance.” She closed with, “I send my warmest good wishes to you all.”

Like Vaughn Munroe, Vera Lynn, an English vocalist also made famous some music from the WWII era:

“We’ll meet again/ Don’t know where/ Don’t know when/ But I know we’ll meet again some sunny day”

Vera is now 103 and sang along with those words last Friday as others reprised her famous hit.

Until next time: Oh, Fiddlesticks!