“In typical American style, and with an impromptu parade which grew and grew, festivities began spontaneously in town last evening upon receipt of the good news marking the end of World War II.
That the hostilities, which began treacherously on eve of the patronal feast of the United States, observed December 8 as the Immaculate Conception, ceased on the eve of the Assumption, observed August 15, is of much significance to Catholics here…” – Clara Stack, writing in her Girardville column for the Evening Herald of Shenandoah, PA on August 15, 1945
This photograph shows the ceremonies marking the end of World War II in the mining community of Girardville, PA in the summer of 1945. Japan announced its intention to surrender on August 15, 1945, with official ceremonies to take place on September 1, 1945 aboard the USS Missouri. The people of Pennsylvania’s Coal Region learned of the Japanese surrender on the evening of August 14, 1945.
The ceremonies took place at the town’s makeshift memorial to its war-time dead on East Main Street and marked Allied victory over Japan.
Photograph from the “Schuylkill Memories” column in the Pottsville Republican, August 7, 1999.
Read more about the Coal Region in World War II
Schuylkill County airmen win War Bonds for bombing Berlin | 1944
Killed Aboard the USS Arizona – Seaman First Class Paul Shiley and the Attack on Pearl Harbor
Joe Toye | A Coal Region soldier in the “Band of Brothers”
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