After the War

This photo is the infamous picture that became a symbol of the ending of World War 11. This photo was taken in Times Square in New York City on August 14, 1945. This was the day known as, V-J Day, or “Victory over Japan Day”. The young sailor and the nurse are rejoicing that the war is finally over. This photo was published in Time Magazine shortly after the war ended. Photo Credit: (Kapler, Randall, & Kelton, 1977)

On August 14, 1945 Japan unconditionally surrendered to the Allied Forces.  This ultimately ended World War 11.  Since that date, August 14 and 15 have been known as “V-J Day,” or “Victory over Japan Day.” This also marks the date that Japan formally surrendered on the USS Missouri, anchored in Tokyo. (Hall, 1991) After Japan surrendered and World War 11 was over, troops began coming back home to the states.  All was well in the States and America was overjoyed to have “her boys” back home.  My grandfather left Tinian Island in August of 1945 and came back to San Pedro, California.  From there he loaded a train with hundreds of other troops to take them back home.  The trains were huge; they had fifty to sixty cars filled with soldiers homeward bound. (Beam, 2011)  It took a little over a week to make it back to North Carolina.  The train was moving constantly and stopped in every state along the way as we crossed the United States.  (Beam, 2011)  My grandfather’s final stop was in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.  He was overjoyed to see that his family had made the trip from Shelby to come pick him up.  After the war he went back to how things were before he got drafted.  He continued to work at Washburn Hardware in Shelby.  He met my grandmother, Frances, in March of 1946 at Suttle Drug Store.  She was a cashier and sold coke floats and cosmetics. (Beam, 2011)  Pawpaw told me that he asked her on a date and they hit it off from there.  They were married eight months later on November 3, 1946. (Beam, 2011)  Not long after they got married Pawpaw invested in the farming business, by growing cotton and operating a milk dairy. He also told me he went to Veteran’s School every Monday night for almost two years.  They had these schools locally for all World War 11 veterans.  Pawpaw said he learned about agriculture and trade in his class, but goofed off most of the time, because he was already in the agriculture business so he really had nothing to learn.  He earned ninety-seven dollars a month by going to Veteran’s School; it was paid for by the Federal Government. (Beam, 2011)