Happy VJ Day

[jackdiamond]

A Happy VJ Day to everyone; and, our thanks to all of those service people who helped us win WW II. Sadly, only about one million American veterans of that war are still alive.

By the way, how many of you oldsters remember what you were doing on that day?

[teajak]

I was 17 living in Peru,Indiana.That night a parade formed up and down the main street with much noise,celebration and happiness. My future husband was in the navy off the coast of Japan, he was a radio operator and took the message stating the war was over.Vivid memories.

[dorisis]

A Happy VJ Day to everyone; and, our thanks to all of those service people who helped us win WW II. Sadly, only about one million American veterans of that war are still alive.

By the way, how many of you oldsters remember what you were doing on that day?

 

I was a senior in high school and one of the boys in our class had a car with a rumble seat. We drove all over our small town screaming and laughing and acting like idiots. Many of our boys were killed in the Pacific. We were happy to know there would be no more deaths.

 

~Doris~>Who will never buy a Japanese auto.

[Muushka]

I wasn't around when VJ day actually occured, but I was from RI where they celebrate it!

[teajak]

I was a senior in high school and one of the boys in our class had a car with a rumble seat. We drove all over our small town screaming and laughing and acting like idiots. Many of our boys were killed in the Pacific. We were happy to know there would be no more deaths.

 

~Doris~>Who will never buy a Japanese auto.

Addition to my post above.Doris,that is just what we did and when I got home after 1:00 A.M. my Dad was waiting for me on the front porch, and was not a happy camper.LOL.

[CaptData]

My father who was a POW from the Dieppe Raid. Was released from prison shortly before. He was on his way to England with a high fever. When they landed he left by himself (AWOL). When they caught up with him, he was in an English hospital. The charges were dropped. He is still alive and kicking.

[jackdiamond]

I was a fourteen year old lad working as a farm laborer for the USDA for $5.73 per day WAE. In order to pay my way through high school, I worked as a farm laborer every summer. President Truman declared this day a national holiday; and, we were overjoyed particularly those of us who did not have to work.

When I received my pay a week or so later, I noticed that it was one day short. The straw boss in response to my inquiry simply stated that I was WAE which meant I would be paid only when I worked. In other words it meant "when actually employed"

[Hawaiidan]

The sacrafice upon sacrafice made to preserve an ideal not conquor a people. Thanks seems so lacking in that big picture.

 

Maybe never forget would be better to honor those than gave there today for our tomorrow.

 

I remember Aug 6 also... only I call it Enola Gay day; whos actions saved millions of of lives on both sides. Japanese should thank us every year for the lives of their counrtymen that saved..:o

[ourlol]

Remembering Waldo 'Bate' Farnum, 1st Lieutenant, USAAF who died in Little Walden, England shortly after VJ was declared. Class of 44 at Princeton University he was my mother's sweetheart. My mother (British WRAF) who went on to meet my father and enjoy a 'very' happy marriage... always carried a photo of herself sitting in the cockpit of Bate's 'mustang' in her purse.

 

On 17th September 2005 (the 60 year anniversary of Bate's death) a member of these forums left a single red rose on Bate's memorial bench at Princeton University, along with the message:

 

To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.

from a friend 'across the pond'

[bula squeak]

On cruise critic

[CRUZBUDS]

The sacrafice upon sacrafice made to preserve an ideal not conquor a people. Thanks seems so lacking in that big picture.

 

Maybe never forget would be better to honor those than gave there today for our tomorrow.

 

I remember Aug 6 also... only I call it Enola Gay day; whos actions saved millions of of lives on both sides. Japanese should thank us every year for the lives of their counrtymen that saved..:o

 

We met an older gentleman several years ago through cruise critic --- he was a young Marine training at Camp Pendleton for the invasion of Japan when the war was abruptly halted. He was very grateful for the Manhattan Project along with many hundreds of thousands of other young Americans.

[Hawaiidan]

The purple hearts that they are handing out to todays wounded were minted in 1944 in anticipation of the invasion casualties.

 

That ought to give us pause as to how bad that they thought it to be...millions