[epow]

I'm probably one of only a few reading this who still remembers hearing radio newscasts and seeing newspaper photos of that era. I was 8 years old when Japan surrendered, and the celebration that ensued that night in the little western NY towns near the farm where we were living at the time are still vividly etched in my memories. What I remember most about VJ day, and night as well, are the long lines of slow moving cars and trucks crowded bumper to bumper on the roads between those towns with wildly jubilant people hanging on the running boards and fenders, (yes kiddies there really were such things) the blaring car horns, the shouting, singing, fireworks, and waving Stars & Stripes flags.

Thanks very much Homer J, your post made my day by bringing those long ago memories vividly back to mind.

[Leto]

I had noticed one of the subs my Dad served on during the war, the Irex was commissioned this past week, 70 years ago.

I was over at his house last night and mentioned this to him, the Irex was in Portsmouth NH. He had told me about interring Uboats, he talked about how filthy they were (no latrines on board, the bilge was used to ‘store’ human waste).

He told me he was filmed on a newsreel boarding a Uboats, his mother went to the theatre multiple times to watch him in the newsreel. :D

[Charles Martel]

Someone recently posted a photo on Facebook that I'd never seen before. It was a VJ Day gathering in Covington, Louisiana - a town near where I grew up. I had no idea the town had that many residents in 1945 - it was like a sea of jubilant faces.

Modern technology certainly has its negative aspects - but the ability to dig up images from our past and pass them around for a younger generation to see - that's nearly magical.

Like this video, for example.