V-E Day: New Orleans put lid on celebration (May 1945) Source: ARTICLE from New Orleans Times Picayune Dated May 5, 1985 Page A-21 Submitter: Barbara Ann Cangiamilla july 2003 ************************************************* Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ V-E Day: New Orleans put lid on celebration (May 1945) By Marjorie Roehl, Staff Writer For Lt. Edward J. Murphy of Algiers, V-E Day came nine days early. Murphy, a bomber pilot flying out of Italy, was captured July 7, 1944, on his 44th mission. He was freed from the Mooseberg camp near Nuremberg, Germany, on April 29, 1945, by Gen. George Patton. "We clustered around, laughing and crying, while Patton told us how great we were and how we were free at last," Murphy said last week. "And all the time, not having eaten for about a week, we were helping ourselves to the C-rations in his command car." Conrad A. Adams of Westwego, who was captured at St. Lo, France, in July 1944 and escaped the same day, doesn't recall the day of victory. He remembers he had been fighting at Augsburg, Germany, when he learned of the German surrender. "I know we were happy and glad, but we weren't sure that they wouldn't turn around and send us off to Japan. I just wanted to come home." V-E Day, 40 years ago Wednesday, was a day to remember: victory over Germany and the end of World War II in Europe. In New Orleans, it was marked without the usual hoopla or Mardi Gras-type hilarity. The shadow of the war in the Pacific prevented wholehearted rejoicing. Also tempering the excitement was the fact that V-E Day had been expected for weeks. As far back as March 27, rumors of victory had swept the United States. Radio station WDSU broke into a program that morning to announce that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had asked his Cabinet to stand by for a special meeting. It wasn't true and the long waiting began again. The day before V-E Day, there was still an air of waiting, of uncertainty. Here and there, People did break into cheers. Pendleton Shipyards workers sang "Roll out the barrel, We'll have a barrel of fun. Roll out the barrel, We'll have the blues on the run, " followed by an emotional rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner." Arrangements for the celebration of peace had been announced in February. Police were ready for any eventuality. To prevent drunken revelry. Police Chief George Reyer had instructed the bars to close for 24 hours as soon as peace was officially proclaimed. But there were no rules for this interim. The St. Charles bar, Pat O'Brien's, Napoleon House, Marty Burke's, Gaspar's 400 Club and Arnaud's bar and restaurant stayed open. The Roosevelt, Monteleone, Jung, Old Absinthe House, Antoine's and Commander's bars closed. Police reported that the city was quieter than on any Monday night in memory. Streetcars and taxis were empty and few people strolled on Canal Street. Only nine people were booked as drunk in the French Quarter and no fights were reported. In the 1st Precinct, called "a celebrating precinct," things were even more quiet - only three drunks and no fights. In the city's other seven precincts combined, only four drunks were booked. Finally, just after 8 a.m. May 8, President Harry Truman ended the uncertainty. "The flags of freedom fly all over Europe," he said, as people laughed and cried. Automobile horns began to blare around the city. The ships on the Mississippi river hooted in an exultant, earsplitting cacophony. People in the Central Business District shouted the news and some tickertape floated down from the Hibernia and the American banks, the city's tallest buildings. While London went wild and New Yorkers cheered themselves hoarse, New Orleans church bells pealed for 15-minute intervals. Mrs. W. E. Roniger dropped to her knees prayerfully on the curb near the St. Charles Hotel. The Jesuit church on Baronnne Street was packed, and candles, lighted in thanksgiving, flickered on the altars. Staff Sgt. James Tackett, who had been injured in the Pacific, read about the European victory in the New Orleans Item newspaper. "I'll wait till the Japs get theirs before I raise cain," he said. "I've got a lot of buddies still fighting in the Pacific. I'll wait for the, so we can celebrate together." Eighth Naval District headquarters conducted special V-E Day ceremonies outdoors in South Street, beside the Federal Building. Rear Adm. A. C. Bennett spoke of the great effort to win an enduring peace. But, he predicted, "The minimum time that will be required to defeat Japan will be a year and a half to two years." Japan, of course surrendered three months later, after being hit with two atomic bombs. Servicemen at the New Orleans USO Club greeted the news with relief, instead of excitement, the New Orleans States said. Motorcycle Patrolman Salvador Cangiamilla, on duty, noticed that "people seem tickled to death, but they're being very quiet about it." Among the calmest recipients of the victory news were the men to whom it was a defeat. The German prisoners of war at the New Orleans Port of Embarkation, in the present Jackson Barracks area, were locked into compounds for 48 hours, where they spent the morning playing soccer and softball,. Said Maj. William C. Cord, officer in charge, "The POW spokesman informed me the men are glad the war is over." Mayor Robert S. Maestri issued a proclamation calling on New Orleanians to "eschew riotous celebration and observe the day by offering thanks to God," according to the New Orleans States. Businesses and schools closed but churches stayed open until that night. The New Orleans Item called the occasion "the day of remembering." The paper spoke of the men who had died fighting for freedom. "If we forget them, we but dishonor ourselves. It is for us alone to say whether their blood merely stained a bit of alien soil or enriched for all time the life they can no longer share. "This then, is the day of remembering."