Written by Dr. Jerry Sanson, staff member at Louisiana Maneuvers & Military Museum
People whose country is involved in war for extended periods of time look forward anxiously to the end of the conflict. People in Louisiana, like other Americans, anticipated the days of peace that would be signaled by the end of World War II in Europe. Peace rumors began to appear in the state as Allied armies pushed closer to Berlin during the spring of 1945. A radio station in Shreveport advertised its news bureau by announcing that listeners should stay tuned for “the big news stories of the day” in late March. Imaginations ran wild with the hope of peace, and callers jammed the switchboard at the Shreveport Times hoping for confirmation that the European war had ended.
Peace rumors raced through Louisiana in late April. Bars closed in Shreveport because of an agreement between bar owners and police hoping to curb excessive celebrating. Church bells rang out in victory in Baton Rouge, but official denials of German surrender quickly ended the premature celebrations. People remained calm after these false alarms when new rumors of peace circulated on May 5, 1945, but these reports proved to be true. Germany surrendered to the Allies on May 7, 1945 (at 7:41 p.m. May 6 local time in Louisiana). The state began its celebration of “Victory in Europe Day” even before President Harry Truman broadcast his official announcement of the victory, flooding into streets in some cities and towns and sharing the news with friends, family, and even strangers.
Churches throughout the state opened their doors for prayer and thanksgiving the next day, businesses closed, shopkeepers nailed boards across vulnerable windows, and workers in the Whitney Bank and American Bank buildings in New Orleans showered confetti down onto the streets in an impromtu celebration.
Even though Louisianians took a moment to breathe a sigh of relief that part of the massive job of liberating the world from totalitarianism was officially over, the celebrants recognized that the job was not complete. Long-time residents of New Orleans remembered that the celebrations of Armistice Day following World War I were rowdier. As one New Orleans policeman observed, though, “Bullets are still flying in the Pacific.”
This year as we commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, we should remember Louisiana’s contributions to and sacrifices for the war effort. Almost 280,000 people from Louisiana served in some branch of the military during the war and nearly 4,000 died as military casualties. About
1,000 more died from other causes during their military service. Louisianians on the home front exceeded the state’s quota of war bond sales in each of the eight major war bond drives. Tens of thousands of the state’s citizens worked in facilities manufacturing products for the military, about 25,000 in the giant Higgins Industries plants in New Orleans alone. Louisiana’s farmers pushed agricultural production to the highest levels possible depite the vagaries of weather and insects that they face every year. Workers in the oil business produced record levels of fuels and lubricants necessary for a mechanized military force.
Staff members at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans recognize that Louisiana “punched above its weight” in its contributions to the war effort, and Pelican State citizens had much to celebrate in