![]() Providence firemen answered more than 130 alarms, most of them false.Īt Quonset Point Naval Air Station, the largest naval air station between New York City and Boston, and at the next-door headquarters of the Seabees at Davisville, the celebrations were immediate and intense.įorestdale native Nellie Moore Rollins, a WAVE stationed at Davisville, summed up a common feeling: “We felt we’d been released. Policemen, supported by busloads of navy shore patrolmen, attempted to maintain order. Young celebrants burned the playhouse at Garibaldi Playground and tried to do the same at Richardson Park. Vandals smashed windows in downtown stores and on trolley cars. Muggers assaulted some women, dragging them to the pavement for “sport.” Fights broke out when sailors tried to steal kisses from young women in front of their male companions. Later in the night, in some places in Providence, matters took a violent turn. Bonfires burned on Federal Hill, and in South Providence, Mount Pleasant and Fox Point. Ann’s Church off Branch Avenue was roped off for a block dance. Impromptu parades broke out everywhere, including one held by Brown University students marching up Thayer Street. Huge crowds gathered in other parts of the city too, including at Olneyville Square. Sailors and soldiers began kissing willing young women in jubilation.Ī patrolman, viewing the shouting throngs in front of City Hall, exclaimed, with a bit of exaggeration, “Times Square has nothing on this tonight!” An estimated 50,000 people filled downtown Providence, singing, dancing and shaking hands with strangers. 15 edition of The Providence Journal compared Providence’s festivities to a carnival. “I wanted to go where all the action was, on Main Street. ![]() “All the whistles were going, and the church bells,” she recently recalled. In Woonsocket, Jacqueline Gauthier, then 14, was at home on Paradis Avenue. Fifty years later, one of the boys, Phil Moran, recalled that it was “a day like no other.” In Pawtucket, a group of over a dozen boys decided to march in an impromptu parade with flags, drums and noisemakers. In East Providence and North Providence, and other communities, effigies of Japanese Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Tojo were hung from trees and poles along major roads. Now, on “Victory over Japan Day” - or “V-J Day,” as it was already called - after four years of the stress of war, everyone wanted to celebrate.įlags and bunting appeared throughout Cranston. ![]() ![]() The May 8 celebrations for V-E Day, when the Allies accepted Nazi Germany’s official surrender, had been muted, knowing that despite the victory in Europe, American soldiers and sailors were still fighting in the Pacific. What immediately followed throughout Rhode Island were the biggest celebrations the state has ever seen. Truman announced the unconditional surrender of Japan - and the end of World War II. ![]()
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