European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 7, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                It but they still went about their work As much As usual As was they had been drained of Celebration first when their City had been freed and later when the european War had Atlantic Ocean heading Back Tor the states from heard about the japanese surrender Over the ships system barely three minutes after the Washington news Flash was received in the radio and read details in extras of mimeographed and typed ships newspapers As quickly As the folks Back on the Cape carrying 600 returning officers and Lowpoint pm who thought they were headed for the Pacific after a stateside fur each premature announcement was greeted with cheers and then with groans when it turned out to be a false the flattery news the appeared with a daily news one false Flash time through at 2 Long after lights so almost nobody heard the news until a pfc was rudely informed by a sergeant who rolled him out of bed at Wake the wars Over and youre on the boy who cried first mate never lost the Confidence of his listen and president Truman made it everybody Cut a minute later the chaplain took command of the leading troops and Crew in a prayer for their fallen Allan Ecker the in Type so big that the Worces ran together across the top of the said nips the japanese prisoners of War crowded around the Superior private who held the they stood in the unbaked courtyard of the new about 30 most of them newly arrived at the Lay or sat on blankets spread on the Concrete on one Side of the room were the Days crop of most of them were just skin and and the i shorts they wore Hung loosely on their flanks As they Lay with their thin arms clasped behind their their dead eyes staring at on the other Side of the room were healthier specimens waiting to be assigned to work com it was easy to Tell How Long they had been prisoners by the amount of meat on their when the visitors were seated around the Superior privates cot he has a cot because Hes a trusty and in charge of this part of the process ing Center the interpreter asked him How he Felt about the news of japans the Soldier rubbed his eyes with the Palm of his hand and figured out just what he wanted to in not he told the in in a Happy he smiled cheerfully to show How Happy the mood there was a murmur in the room As the word passed from pallet to and some of those who had been lying Down sat up and he was asked if he wanted to go Home this was a ticklish he wanted to go and he didst want to go his relatives and his friends at the aluminium Plant where he worked in Tokyo might Point at and he didst want to be pointed the japs who had edged into the group All looked at the nobody said anything for a the Superior private looked up and smiled his Happy mood he was Happy that the after he told the interpreter about his sur rend he spoke rapidly for a moment and the inter Preter he wants to to the interpreter Houseboy yelled the sergeant in Clear eng the first he had sgt Robert Macmillan 0 the civil ians Anco u the news of the japanese surrender in their there we rent any Bells didst ring and there were few Drunken people went about their business As including the girls on the Vio Del in front of the Rist Orante san a i restaurant on the Corso there was the usual line of hungry soldiers waiting to aside from the fact that most of them were grinning As if they just heard a they showed Little reaction to the a Beefy Corporal Wear ing a Bronze Star ribbon and a Blue combat infantryman with the red Bull Patch of the 34th division on his i dont cant believe Only two bombs they give dont sound like All that stuff we heard about the japs fighting to the seems to me theres a catch what the Hells holding up this line outside the pm italian kids were begging for cigarettes with War you give me one cigarette looked about the band giving out with some strictly roman version hot about 30 couples dancing and several soldiers singing at their a private who said he was attached to the 34th station Hospital was drinking with an Over right thin the private i dont know but the thing sort of sneaks up on i started out to raise hell tonight but somehow i cant get it seems hard to no More worrying about stripes or when i get Home its to maybe when i get Home ill really pitch some War the blonde Ameri cans leave to it was hard to Tell from her voice whether she thought the gis leaving Italy would be a Good or a bad the private put his Arm around her and from now on its Home Sweet Home Sweet he shouted at the orchestra a i at the next table that aint dancing the nine Oclock show at the Barberini Thea Ter was out and the crowd of gis and mommies streamed into the streets fresh from seeing Lana Turner in slightly English ser Geant wonderful i went to the Cinema because i didst know what to do with five years of it for you nearly four i was slated for Burma so to glad the shows a couple of soldiers were walking Down the via Del tritone singing hillbilly three brazilian soldiers were sitting in a parked jeep watching the girls As they passed under the Street laughing and making cracks in on the Corner an italian was Selling Watermelon slices to a Small crowd of civilians who stood around his cart eating and spitting the London Bilibio prison South of where some former soldiers of the emperor Are an elderly japanese civilian interpreter lifted his adjusted his spectacles and trans he Nippon the Superior private glanced sidelong at the older Man and laughed at the civilian thumped the paper with his forefinger and repeated the translation the Superior private frowned and stared at the Page that said that the War was ending and that his country was offering to the japs behind him chattered and stuck their Heads Over his shoulder to see for the Superior private left the paper with them and walked into the Long Concrete building where he lived i followed with the the which was part of the processing Center for incoming was about the size of a stateside army the windows were but the door was unlocked and War had ended and thai the world could know peace he said the watching him All they put on their Happy mood and there was the sound of polite a muscle awed Jap sergeant joined the hed been a prisoner for about a month and was in pretty fair had been aware of what what was going in much he told the interpreter All my friends he indicated the japs along the All my friends have such a mood of the japs along the Wall stared the sergeant gave his name and said he had no objection to having it published in an american Maga he was a medical sergeant about 40 years and he had an abscess on one he had Given up after four months hiding in the a Nisei staff sergeant from the 442d regimen Tal combat team came out carrying a paper bag full of he grinned and wonderful almost too Good to be in anxious to get i Hope people therell realize the wars but its sure Fine in front of the red Cross a Gray haired tech the Best news Ive Ever heard on the its a funny i came out of an Engineer outfit that headed for the they pulled me out because i got 95 i wonder if the boys live left Italy  sure have the laugh if they beat me at a sidewalk cafe on the via Nazionale stood a Bald headed i who was getting a Buzz laughing and he showed two italians pictures of his wife and and this garage you can just see part of it sticking out from the Side of the i got the sweetest Little what a you Espito Buick inside the Florida i hot things seeds could hear them Guerra finita Bomba atomic Molt Morti while a loudmouthed Buck sergeant from ii corps was happily stuffing himself with Melan and explaining How the atomic bomb in the Borghese gardens a fifth army t5 was sitting with a pretty italian i figured something like this would its been a Long War and nobody sorry its of i married is my now i wonder How soon ill go Home and if Shell be Able to go to the states at the same if she gets stuck in going to ask for a discharge Here and sweat out Italy till we can both go to the but no More sweating out Japan near the galleria club a negro sergeant from the 92d wearing a Silver Star ribbon under his combat infantryman in glad we didst have to invade that woul Dve been a Bitch got a brother in the Navy in the Pacific and i bet Hes shouting inside the club somebody yelled Over the music out in Advance of the these servicemen gathered around to cheer the when you Guys get papers from Home now you better Start Reading the want ads the crack brought a wave of the Necro i that a Start thinking about but after the army till be a an air Force master sergeant and a wac Cor poral were standing in front of the Rome area command opposite the famous Balcony in Piazza Venezia where Mussolini used to Harangue the six Striper its great news All although i guess weve been expecting Japan cant stand against the in in an occupation bomb group Down at fog you think  still keep us Here now Ive got 18 months they ought to Send some of these new Guys for occupation they certainly ought to Send Over men whole never been out of the said the i think they could even get a Volunteer i wonder if we or the chinese will occupy my dont even talk about said the can you imagine Japan with a chinese occupation Force Damn if was a Little after Midnight and Peters looked very solemn and impressive against the the Church was gis kept coming up and then standing looking at the Church As if they didst know what to one Soldier i thought it would be open an elderly italian said that in Italy All churches close at i but tonight the Soldier at the Entrance to the Swiss guard Barracks a heavyset guard in the ancient uniform of this Small army was standing at the his face was expressionless his army life not dependent on the wars ending or on the Day when the greatest and most Ter Rible War in world history came to an on the Day when fascism was finally broken in the1 Rome where fascism was born was quiet and Rome has seen its share of this maybe there should have been a lot of noise and great where people know there want ticker tape showers or hysterical but the people were in Rome most people were merely smiling Len Zinberg Alaska from fort to take Over the nearby town of Anchorage when the final surrender news came but the towns six blocks of bars and liquor stores folded under the Anchor Ages seemingly inexhaustible Supply of liquor just want enough to meet the the Celebration got under Way Early tuesday afternoon and continued till 8 when the bars civilian neckties keynote the rejoicing gis bought up All the available ties in Anchorage stores and when the tie Supply was exhausted they exchanged of ties with maps removed of ties from soldiers the maps wore civilian ties the difficulty for the maps was telling soldiers from officers and pm exchanged in Signia and stripes and one sergeant made full colonel during the local girls did a strip tease for a couple of Hundred they stripped in a hotel window and tossed their garments to soldiers gathered telegrams to and from the states quadrupled Over the previous the reaction was summed up by Bob Kirk of Chicago How Long is the duration Al Weisman two Canadian soldiers walked into a restaurant talking quietly about the japanese surrender a i sit Ting in one of the american style Booths caught their words and let out a were going to tear this place apart he then he lapsed into other americans in the restaurant reacted pretty much the same As one Soldier were still in there was a Little More excitement As the eve Ning wore on and there were crowds in Picca Dilly circus and Leicester and Trafalgar quite a few people got rid of their waste paper by throwing it out of a sign that the need for saving such things for the War Effort was just about five Hundred gis who arrived that evening on furlough from the continent we rent exactly on fire about the Duffel bags and toilet kits on their they queued up to Register for rooms at the red Cross club As quietly As they have been queuing up for everything else during their army a lot of the furlough ing troops said they didst believe the War was Over and even if it was they still have to sweat out transportation Home for a Long time quite a few gis were More interested in talk ing about the atomic bomb than about they were afraid of the new weapon and its potential Force for Paul Martin of an antitank gunner with the 9th division in Belgium and Germany and now with the army of occupation in Ger was a Little the news that Japan gave up seems impossible to he especially since the rus sians have Only been in the thing for one this atom bomb is sure a Lotta hell it had a lot to do with the i have to go Back to but in glad for the Guys whore sweating it out in the Pacific ill get Home eventually and it might be a Little quicker than i thought this time last How Long will we have to stay in Germany depends on How Long we take to get those Buerge meisters working i know the atom bomb helped a but it want the Only Factor in the right now i want to go Home Ive got 134 and Ive got a son two years old i never saw and a girl that i Only saw who Doest want to go brother Bernard Katz of now with the 36th bombardment eighth air has been in the army for five years and had special in one Guy who ought to be because 1 saw my first action on i was at Wheeler Field on the first Island the japs we thought it was an earthquake until we found out that it was and War was i jumped under a theater for shelter and found myself lying beside a two Star he didst say anything about and neither did now its All for i i think a combination of the russians and the atom bomb did the trick in about equal i think the atom bomb is the Best weapon to prevent future and i also think it should be Given to the whole world so it can be developed to its fullest even the japs and germans should be Given it when there domesticated Francis Butki the City that had seen its own Brand of fascism and International banditry Tumble Only a few months before had Little Energy left for reaction to the fall of the american forces network broadcast the first authentic Vij news at and most of berlins polyglot occupation As Well As most native were the army newspaper All Gemeiner Zei Tung was Only Berlin paper which carried the news the next but the four Days of false alarms made even the real thing seem russian gis interviewed had the same responses As their american said one of now maybe i can get Home to see my wife and