V-E Day celebration differs from Armistice Day in 1918
Impromptu rejoicing 27 years ago was greater for news meant peace
Today’s V-E celebration couldn’t match the Armistice jamboree of 1918. The boys and girls really went to town on that November 11.
On that morning, word that the Armistice had been signed in the forest of Compiegne was flashed from Washington shortly before 3 a.m. It said firing would stop at 5 a.m. ET, 11 a.m., French time.
While the news had been expected since the false Armistice four days earlier the first thousands heard of the German surrender was when they started for work.
Then news meant peace
Many never reached their desks, work benches, mines or machines. They paraded through the streets, jammed into barrooms, shouted joyously, bought strangers drinks. Department stores closed. it was just as well because that throng wasn’t thinking of shopping. They really went on a binge of rejoicing.
In the afternoon, Mayor E. V. Babcock led a hastily-formed parade through the Golden Triangle. In the evening, another parade started on the North Side and snake danced into the Downtown district. In 1918, the news meant peace.
Headlines still good
Headlines in The Press of November 11, 1918, outlined stories which could be used in today’s Press – with the changing of a few names and some minor details.
For instance, a Page 1 boxed head in 1918 asked: “Kaiser’s Fate?”
Today, substitute Hitler.
“Crown Prince Reported Shot” was another 1918 headline. It has been reported within the past 48 hours that the same crown prince has been taken prisoner.
Parallels today
“Hohenzollern Peril Not Dead; Allies Discord Remains Danger” was another headline. With a slight alteration it could be used on a story from the San Francisco Conference. Just substitute “Nazi” for “Hohenzollern.”
Editorially, on November 11, 1918, The Press said: “The German people, led thereto by the wicked ambition of their late distinguished emperor, now the world’s most distinguished fugitive from justice, have done other nations a great wrong.”
Write in “Hitler” for “emperor” and the 1945 picture duplicates 1918.
Who said that history never repeats?