U-boats yield – Reds hem in diehard Nazis
Submarines surfacing all over Atlantic
…
Himmler escapes into Alps as U.S. troops close trap
Commander of hangman’s Ss guard surrenders after Austrian reveals hideout
By Malcolm Muir Jr., United Press staff writer
…
Czech Nazi leader cuts wrists
Prison compound too much for Heinlwein
By Iris Carpenter, North American Newspaper Alliance
…
Chief in Norway blows self up
Terboven escapes trial through death
…
I DARE SAY —
The lights go on
By Florence Fisher Parry
NEW YORK (V-E Night) – It was dusk when we caught our taxi. The clouds had fled the sky after 10 days of downpour. Even as we stepped into the taxi near Grand Central, we could hear a low purr from Times Square. A haze of light loomed, westward.
“Why, they’ve turned on the lights of Broadway!” we cried. We felt a little giddy as we came into the wide-open square before Times Square. The duplicate Statue of Liberty held a flaming torch, and her crown was a diadem of lights. The marquees of the theaters blazed their wares, and the great electric signs were shining! And the “Way” was gay and white!
We had stood in this selfsame spot exactly three years ago, when the first complete blackout engulfed Manhattan. Three years. Now the sudden brilliance and life was almost too much to bear. With hundreds of others, silenced too, we stood still, tears in our eyes. Only now the splendor and sadness of the day seemed to break in upon us. It took the lights of Broadway to do it, somehow… make us FEEL that yes, IT HAD COME!
The lovers
There were many young lovers, sailors encircling their girls, soldiers bending over the faces of shining young women, giddy with love and relief. The side streets were full of these young lovers, standing close to the windows kissing, saying soft words to each other…
A tall gangly sailor was rubbing the nose of a policeman’s horse. “Where you come from, sailor?” asked the officer. “Montana,” grinned the sailor. “Kin I give him a piece of candy like I do at home?”
We went into our theater, to see Bloomer Girl. All through its action we could hear the soft far roar from Broadway. The actors spoke a little more loudly, the audience was very quiet. When the final ballet came, one that showed the Civil War brides and sweethearts awaiting the return of their lovers… and the lovers returned and stood there an instant, spellbound by the glory of reunion, and then took their girls in their arms, the audience wept… One girl in the ballet looked in vain for her lover and sank to the ground, bereft… And a sob came from a girl beside me…
…We went to Grand Central just to see the boys come in from their trains… Ah, the meetings, ah, the swift heartbreaking partings, ah, the pity and ache of war!
We sat at a squeezed table to have a clam stew. Besides us, facing each other, were a girl and a soldier. She was very light and frail with a sensitive face, and her lids hung heavily with shyness and love. It was their last date. He was going out again that night.
Departure
“Are you sure you have everything? You haven’t forgotten anything, have you?” she said softly.
“Nope. Not a thing. As I was saying, these guys I was telling you about had an idea they could drink me under the table. ME! That’s a good one! Why, I could drink them all under the table. I always can drink whoever I’m wid under the table.”
“It was wonderful your being able to BE here tonight, on such a big night. Victory and everything. Maybe you won’t have to stay so long now… Maybe you’ll be coming home sooner…”
“Mebbe. Well, I’m kinda used to the Army. Take this leave now, it was swell, but I dunno, I’ll be glad to get back to my buddies. Take Jenks now, he’s the guy who thinks he can drink ME under the table! Wisht he was here tonight, would I show HIM!"
It was time to go now, the place was closing… We moved away from the table. The girl was still listening to her hero. Her pinched little smile kept coming back to me as I turned out the lights of our room…
All over Europe, the guns had stopped firing. Bodies had ceased to crumple in that odd, sudden grotesque way… The far Broadway din seemed to turn into a thin high wall… as of anguish, the thin wall of anguish from the throats of those to whom this day had come too late…
WMC soon to free millions of workers ‘frozen’ to their jobs
All manpower regulations will be lifted in many areas by July 1
…
Refunds of $5 billion proposed for industry
…
First point discharges set for tomorrow
Army to release 2,500 in nation
…
Questions and answers on demobilization
…
Nazi plot to invade Britain from within thwarted by Yanks
Germans planned attack on London by 75,000 escaped prisoners, airborne troops
By John B. McDermott, United Press staff writer
…
Allied censorship to stay in Europe
Information will be kept from Japs
…
Luzon Yanks near big dam above Manila
Nearly two million tons of ships blasted
…
Chinese crush Jap drive on U.S. air base
More than 20,000 enemy troops killed
…
Gangsters ruled Germany, captured general asserts
Von Falkenhorst, ex-commander in Norway, calls war ‘most insane in history’
By Jack Fleischer, United Press staff writer
…