LIMA — Unlike most Lima residents, Mrs. William S. Murphy wasn’t listening to the radio that rainy August evening 70 years ago. A strong summer storm earlier in the day had knocked out electricity in the 500 block of West Elm Street where the Murphys lived.
A ringing phone broke the silence. On the other end was a reporter with the news Mrs. Murphy, and the country, had waited to hear for nearly four years: At 7 p.m. Aug. 14, 1945, President Harry S. Truman announced Japan had officially surrendered. World War II was over.
“’Thank God,’ Mrs. Murphy murmured after a moment’s silence,” The Lima News wrote. With six sons in the military and a seventh about to be inducted into the Army, Mrs. Murphy “claimed to be one of the happiest persons in the world …”
While Mrs. Murphy quietly gave thanks, the rest of Lima let loose. After years of shortages and rationing and casualty lists, it was time to celebrate.
“Heedless of the driving rain, the celebrators pressed forward in an aimless circuit of the streets, their clothing plastered to their bodies, shouting patriotic songs, thumping each other on the backs and joining together in common excitement as the yolk of a terrible conflict was lifted from their shoulders,” the News wrote that Wednesday.
The celebration followed a summer of anxious waiting. The war in Europe ended with Germany’s surrender in May of 1945, but Japan fought on. In late July, a wire story in the News predicted the expected invasion of Japan “may exceed anything we saw in Normandy.”
That changed with the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima Aug. 6 and on Nagasaki three days later. Following Hiroshima, Truman told the country, “It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East.”
The day after Nagasaki, the News carried a story on Japan’s willingness to accept peace if Emperor Hirohito could remain. The sports page included a headline on a lopsided win by the Lima Reds, a member of the Ohio State League, over Newark the night before. “REDS ‘ATOM BOMB’ NEWARK MOUNDSMEN BY 20-3,” the headline read.
Premature celebration
On Sunday night, Aug. 12, “Keyed with expectation and anxious to mark Japanese capitulation appropriately, Lima began celebrating prematurely” after radio networks broadcast an erroneous surrender report. “Jubilant crowds, accepting the news at face value, flocked into the street to share the long-awaited tidings with neighbors and to ‘let off steam,’” the News reported the next day.
The story was quickly retracted, but not before “scores of youngsters raced for The Lima News” to grab copies of the extra edition that never materialized. Ohio Theater patrons, watching Van Johnson and Esther Williams in “Thrill of a Romance,” jumped from their seats “shouting, whistling and thumping each other on the back.”
At Halloran Field, the Reds — who featured a “husky” 16-year-old lefthander named Joe Nuxhall — were in the middle of sweeping a doubleheader from the Springfield Giants when the announcement was made. “Players embraced each other and the crowd sang the National Anthem,” the News reported. “When the second announcement was made, the crowd groaned. One woman exclaimed: ‘Oh, God, why do they keep raising false hope on us?’ From then to the end of the game there was silence.”
Peace, actually
Little wonder that Lima’s celebration was slow to start when peace actually arrived two nights later. “Snatches of talk, ‘I don’t believe it,’ ‘It can’t be true,’ ‘Those Japs are trying to trick us,’ were heard.” The News noted. “The lid came off 30 minutes after the announcement and the tempo hit a roaring crescendo at 8 o’clock.”
Throughout the city, church bells “chimed for an hour as the faithful went to churches to kneel in thanksgiving,” while “cafes closed their doors and patrons swarmed into the streets, moving gradually to the Public Square.” When the announcement was made in Lima’s theaters, “a roar came from the patrons, some of whom arose hurriedly and left the theaters on the run.”
Automobiles, “three abreast,” jammed the main streets, their owners bearing down on the horns, unmindful of batteries, tires and gasoline rationing, giving vent to their war-stifled feelings in sheer exuberance.” To the east of the Square, “a Baltimore and Ohio Passenger train passing through Lima picked up the tempo with prolonged blasts from its whistle just as the celebration got under way,” the News wrote.
Meanwhile, firefighters at the Central fire station “climbed to the station’s belfry and banged away at the fire bell which hadn’t been heard in 16 years. The last time the bell was tolled was out of respect for two firemen who lost their lives in the courthouse fire of 1929.”
Party in the streets
In the streets, the News wrote, “unmindful of the driving rain, merrymakers swept along in a thunderous horde, beating tin cans, blowing whistles and singing bits of patriotic songs at the tops of their lungs.” From downtown buildings, “clouds of torn bits of paper floated down … on the cheering masses.”
At one point, “a soldier clinging to a humanity-laden truck lost his balance and fell to street,” the News reported. “He felt the bump on his head, grinned and climbed back to his precarious perch.”
Three young men “with the American flag and a battered wash tub for a drum” enacted the “Spirit of ’76,” while a group of young women dragged an effigy of Hirohito through the streets. “One celebrator traveled the downtown circuit clad in a derby hat and purple bathing trunks,” the News wrote.
“At 9:30 the crowds gravitated to Main Street. Impromptu parades twisted in and out of the jam of humanity that packed the sidewalks.”
About 11:30, the crowds began to thin “although the automobile horns continued their raucous refrain” and some patrons in downtown bars tried to continue the celebration past closing time. Finally, “wearied but still jubilant, the celebrators went to their home and to bed,” the News wrote. “Some of them slept.”
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