European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 7, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The arms of a Silver was a picture of her son in he had been killed in action several months Mary a pretty said she had been waiting to but her appetite had i stepped outside just As the news she then a chill came Over me and i had a feeling that was More like sadness than she  help she was so thank her Boyd is somewhere in the Pacific with the a solid mass packed Akard Between Commerce and with cars lined up from signal Light to signal an army private walked up to an my standing at Akard and the Soldier had made the rounds of the liquor stores just before a Telephone conference of owners had resulted in their closing for the night in the midst of a tremendous toting one bottle under an Arm and drinking steadily from the Soldier stared the my in the mercy on he mercy on and walked at the Uso on main Street a crowd of service men Hung Over a radio waiting for the presidents when the news came they remained listening attentively to every then they Cut Loose with a most of them pouring out into the Street to join other celebratory Bent on organizing a some stayed there was William who sat Down at once to write to his wife in All i want to do is go Home and tie myself to my wife apron strings and never leave Home he Ive been in this mans army five that Guy Rogers of just Back from two years and two Days was ready to sit Down for a discussion of chemical a Field in which he had the atomic he had really done the he struck by an now if they would just say that All of us Fellows were going to be he we would really blow our new York City at am on new i Wick i August the thermometer in new York City read 66 the Sun was the humidity want and All in All it was one of the towns better summer the atomic bomb and Russia were in the War and the news Broad casts were much concerned with the accomplish ments of these new a moment later it according to the Tokyo wanted word of the momentous broadcast spread but in new York there was no immediate sense of a mood of trance like suspense pre nothing was nothing was no one could do anything but thin lines of Earnest people gathered almost at once in times Square to await developments As they were flashed on the electric news sign running around the times Tower they didst know it of but they were the Advance guard of a Host of new yorkers who would be keeping Vigil there for five Days and nights to Shadya Sarge said one i to another in the ranks of an expectant throng listening to a sidewalk radio in the Entrance to a newsreel theater on East 42d Kinda aint for a big Deal like this people seem to be walking around in a that what the whole thing seems among the first in the City to act on the news were the proprietors of establishments in the times Square area who feared for the safety of their plat Glass by 8 on the Southeast Corner of Broadway and 43d had a Crew of carpenters Busy putting up barricades As a precaution against and the Astor hotel and other Vulner Able spots were Quick to follow and so the Long morning wore civilians stopped gis in the offering to buy them but by and Large the gis didst seem inclined to everything was still too Uncertain to get Down in Wall where ticker tape can to counted on to Fly at the first sign of exuberance in the big there want so much As a shred of paper in the a recruiting station for situated in front of the sub Treasury building at the Corner of Wall and remained open for but there were no Tif r thousands shouted together news of Jap surrender came to titles Square word went out that president Harry Truman was calling a Cabinet meeting at 2 some How or other this was distorted in manhattans garment Center into a Rumor that he had accepted the Jap peace and a As cock eyed As it was seventh and eighth avenues from 34th to 40th streets and the Side streets in the area became a crazy quilt of bits and patches of brightly coloured cloth thrown from the windows of buildings by excited vendors popped up from nowhere to peddle Vajday buttons at two bits per the department of sanitation rushed sprinkler trucks around to wet Down the but not in in the midst of All the some of the pieces of cloth on eighth Avenue caught fire from a cigarette and traffic had to be stopped because of the danger to gasoline in the garment weve always premature our said one disgusted elevator during the policemen were stationed in the Midtown area to handle anticipated but at came an announcement that the House would have no further news until morning and the cops were called and so the indecisive Day petered in the theater District that night there were no More than the usual summer crowds and local radio stations hammered Home this message at frequent intervals if you have a War keep the War is not yet nor was the War Over during the Long week end that saturday it was and just after Dawn the Queen Eliza Beth came in with gis from the a v x a Sailor a wac Tofe up the sidewalk on Broadway with a strutting Victory lot of whom figured that now they  have to take another free Ocean ride on Uncle As they been expecting by afternoon the streets were All but deserted and from one end of the City to the other girls sprawled on tenement roofs in skimpy bathing picking up Sun tans for their legs in place of the silk stockings they  the the radio had been told that Hirohito could stay but that wed be the and everyone realized it would now be some time before wed have an answer to that evening the West 54th Street police station reported fewer people in times Square than there usually Are on a summer saturday there was nothing to do but the skies were Clear again As indeed they were throughout the five Days of waiting that seemed like a and the thermometer was in the Low making it a Fine Day to go to the thousands turned up at Coney Island and Orchard toting portable radios along with them so that they could keep up with of which there were Learned commentators went on the air to explain what was holding up japans although they obviously had no More idea than their listeners of what the Deal a mass of thanks giving for the peace that had not yet come was held at Patricks Cathedral on fifth mayor Laguardia broadcast this plea do not celebrate unless there is Good reason to Cele As it apparently must at the end of any came the phony report of at the United press sent out this Flash accepts surrender terms of the two minutes later came the counter manding order up that but by then it was too radio stations had already broadcast the false news and thousands upon thousands of people had dashed from their living rooms out into the the later explained that it haunt sent out the report and it put up a Reward for information leading to the identification and conviction of the culprit who in some manner had managed to slip the hot but screwy dope out Over its by that crowds were whooping it up in times a bit syn to be since All they had to do was to look up at the electric news sign and read that the War was definitely not most of the Hullabaloo was kicked up by kids of Bobby sox age just raising the roof for the hell of by Midnight it was Way past their bedtimes utterly pooped they straggled monday was a the weather was hot and humid and a sweating City was fret fully sweating the surrender whereas at first everyone had More or less taken it for granted that Japan would accept our now As the hours passed people began to fear that it want Over yet by any the Day dragged a Day on which most new yorkers had thought they would be celebrating and on which they instead had to return reluctantly to their routine that evening at came a radio report that a broadcasting station in had picked up an announcement from m nicely in the frenzied babes rushed through the crowds kissing and in uniform and prowled about mousing any and every Likely looking number while the cops looked grinning at in the afternoon a Sailor and his Honey were to be seen lying Flat on the pavement necking furiously As the throngs shuffled about traffic was barred from the times Square area All Day so that the which ultimately numbered could run All the Way from Staten Island to Van Cort Landt from the Hudson River to the remotest outposts of the streets were littered with tons of paper torn up and scattered about by new York cites seven and a half million elated in where the residents have relatives in the land the japs first tried to they put on the sacred dragon dance ordinarily staged Only on the chinese new up in Harlem there was Jive and Jitter bugging in the Flatbush Avenue and Fulton two of Brooklyn main were frantic and Madcap As the Shindy was by it was nothing compared to what it became at night after president Truman made his 7 Oclock announcement that the War was at was the official and at once the whole already a Seething seemed to to the blasts of automobile horns and the shilling of whistles the Queen docked in the added the throaty Boom of her some of the bars around times Square closed unable to Cope with the but it was a cinch to get a drink since scores of people were wandering around carrying quart bottles of stuff and All were in a generous on it went into the night and the next night As the biggest City the world went its Way toward picking up the biggest hangover in its it was a hangover few would Ever Sanderson Vanderbilt m in the White House president Truman surrounded by members of his Cabinet reads the Jap surrender seated by him Admiral Leahy Secretary of state Byrnes and a Secretary state Hull Tokyo that Japan would have an important announcement to make at 8 Oclock the following that made it look As though the situation would remain on ice for the rest of the night and a Large slice of new York cites sweltering populace nursed itself to bed Early with Cooling that was the last sleep for a lot of people for a lot of Tokyo jumped the gun and at tuesday morning broadcast a statement that Japan would accept the Allied surrender throughout the City late stay uppers hopped on the phone to Rouse their friends and Tell them the Good some made immediately for times setting off a Celebration that was to last Well Over 48 it was still going Strong at Dawn and carried on right through the Day and the next Day As More and More Horn tooting thousands poured into the by tuesday noon there was still nothing but from the Way the crowds carried on you would never have suspected that peace want yet Defi Washington boasted they would raise their Flag within a year after the attack on Pearl relaxed its worn nerves and celebrated the winning of the War with a free kissing demonstration which combined All the features of new years eve and Mardi fraternization among officers and enlisted men was the order of the night in this usually dignified stronghold of where seemingly every second person in uniform is adorned with eagles or every girl was fair and rank was no a Buck sergeant and a Corporal chased two wac captains into the doorway of a shop on f Street and kissed their superiors despite giggled orders to the contrary two Navy officers who warmly invited a Victory kiss from a redheaded wave Ensign in the hallway of the Willard hotel did not make out As but their confusion was covered by a rather Bald headed gentleman who chose that moment to try to no Down the Willards he made it the number of bottles which were passed freely among strangers would have startled any one who has Ever paid for a quart of the stuff in such far off places As new one standing in the Middle of Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White waved a fifth of Rye at arms repeatedly inviting passersby to have a drink on the european theater of opera a rounded off his nights excitement by shinning up a Light pole in front of the White House and leading the crowd in beating time with a Small american he concentrated on corny numbers like keep the Home fires burning and Home on the and Between songs he led yells of we want Harry but the president did not repeat his Earl evening there were Many officials in Washington that night who were too Busy with the new problems of peace to celebrate the end of the not everyone on the streets was i cant get that said a t5 youd be surprised How Many didst get drunk i a Middle aged White haired Man with a scottish Burr remarked you its a Nice but i lost two it might be a joke to but and the Middle aged Man Shook his head and walked slowly Barrett mourn Camp settled Over the rolling Jersey Countryside when the factory whistles of nearby new Brunswick began screaming that the second world War was in War department theater 1 a Captain in a Crisp tropical worsted uniform adorned with an american defense ribbon was standing on the he was delivering the Standard welcoming lecture to some gis who had just got off a ship from Europe and were to be redeployed to the now in he i wish to warn you that any demonstration that results in damage to Camp property will result in the postponement of your Home May your Brief stay at Camp Kilmer be someone hurried onto the stage from the wings and whispered to him president tru Man has just announced that the War is Over Tell pm that before they replied the As far As Camp Kilmer is concerned there is to be no announce ment of peace until the colonel hears it from the War department through channels and announces it but president Truman announced it Over the is in Only Over in the Barracks area a bar Man was out Side in the Yard burning the fuzz off his Brand new combat boots in the flame of a can of shoe he heard the factory looked up and then Bent his head to his task inside Barracks t241 some of the newly arrived gis were Reading or snoring in their others were in Little shoot ing the still others packed the Shower luxuriating in the a Little Buck sergeant came into the went Over to one group sitting among the double tiered bunks the wars just heard about they grunted and continued shooting the a permanent party Soldier come in with a handful of overseas who wants to buy a hat with Blue infantry braid on it he Only a cant buy a Cap with braid on it in Camp and you cant get outta Camp and you gotta take off yer wools so a better get two fifty muttered a big Cor haired what a Racket probably Cost a no Moren a you commandos got All the aint a about half an hour ago one of yer pals come in and got rid of two bottles of Gin for 15 probably Cost him about five just because we cant get outta Camp several of the men bought and the per