Remembering VJ Day after 70 years

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

By the Spring of 1945 the American people were tired. For three and a half years, my entire high school career, the War ground on and on. Little hopes from overseas battles were followed by long periods of disappointment. Rationing of food, gas, and tires conserved products, but it also made people edgy. Every month of the War young men left for the service. In Plainview they usually they left in little groups. The Mayor and a few dignitaries and family members would have a brief ceremony to send them off. The little blue star flags, marking the home of a serviceman, in windows in our town multiplied. Families complained about no mail from their serviceman. Then, whole packets of letters would come all at once. Sometimes-- too often, the message was a telegram, "Oh God, no!"-- the dreaded telegram-- "We regret to inform you..." Blue stars were replaced with gold stars.

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