Posted on 05/08/2015 5:53:45 AM PDT by TurboZamboni
When the guns finally fell silent in Europe 70 years ago today, St. Paul prayed and drank.
It was called V-E Day -- Victory in Europe -- when Nazi leaders still alive in Germany agreed to unconditional surrender ending World War II on the European continent. In St. Paul, it was celebrated with a prayer service at the Municipal Auditorium attended by 6,000 people. "The audience ranged from fur-draped women to women in defense plant coveralls and bandannas, and from white-collared business executives to work-stained garage mechanics," according to the St. Paul Dispatch.
The city's churches also were packed, as all of the Catholic parishes in the city and most of the Protestant churches held special services of thanksgiving. A full page advertisement in the Pioneer Press paid for by Northern States Power showed a drawing of a soldier praying on a war-torn battlefield with the caption, "Thank God -- this task is done!"
But in contrast to Minneapolis, where the bars and nightclubs closed for the day, St. Paul's bars stayed open throughout the day and night, prompting the city's police department to put its entire force of about 300 men on duty until closing hours at midnight, according to the other St. Paul newspaper, the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
A wartime midnight curfew was called off and the electric lights in the city's night spots and retail store windows blazed out with the lifting of a "brownout" restriction. The feeling of triumph could be seen in the headlines during that week.
"Acres of Supermen -- They're a Dime a Dozen Now" was the description in the Pioneer Press over an aerial photo of a massive tent camp in Germany holding more than 160,000 German prisoners of war.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
I'm Going to Get Lit Up--Billy Cotton & His Orchestra (1943)
Anybody think we’d hold thanksgiving services today (assuming we actually won a war)?
This must have been when the state of Minnesota still had a majority of America loving Patriots?
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