Aspinock Memories
Putnam celebrates the end of WWII
By Bill Pearsall, 
Putnam Municipal Historian
On Dec. 7, 1941, the United States entered WWII after Pearl Harbor was bombed in a surprise attack by the Japanese Air Force.  In a national announcement, President Roosevelt signed a Declaration of War on Dec. 8, 1941.  The Axis powers of Germany, Japan and Italy were named as enemies of the allies.  The war raged on for four years.
On Aug. 6, 1945, a bomb named “Little Boy” was dropped on Hiroshima.  On Aug. 9, 1945, a bomb named “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki.  On Aug. 14, 1945, in a news conference, President Harry S. Truman announced the unconditional surrender of Japan, ending WWII.  “This is a great day,” said Truman, speaking into a microphone which was not functioning to well.  “This day we have been looking for since December 7, 1941.”
In a decree recommended by President Truman and Governor Baldwin of Connecticut, a two-day standstill of industry and business was issued so that towns across the country could celebrate the end of the war.
On Wednesday, Aug. 15, 1945, The Windham County Observer headline said, “Putnam Celebrates Ending of War.” The article says that there will be a public dance tonight in Union Square and adjoining central streets sponsored by the Merchants Committee of the Putnam Chamber of Commerce. The dance will begin early and if enthusiasm of the participants and onlookers warrants, it will continue until late or even early morning hours. There will be plenty of music by the pick of regional Terpsichorean musicians with an amplifying system distributing the swing and swoon, olden waltz, two step, and square dance strains.  The article goes on to describe that “Old Glory” is flying everywhere, on business blocks, factories, public residences and public buildings.  Never has there been such a spontaneous and general display of the national emblem.
The article goes on to say that all personnel of the Danielson State Police Barracks would be on duty, but there are no augmented patrols.  Lt. Victor J. Clarke, Barracks Skipper, said he believed the people are in no mood to be otherwise than law-abiding.  If no outright rowdyism or hazard to person and property develop, there would be no police interference.  Pent-up enthusiasm would be allowed to escape to the hearts content of all participants. There will also be services in thanksgiving for total victory to be held in churches in the city tonight and tomorrow.
Celebrations on these two days occurred across the nation.  The Daily News describes the celebrations in NYC in an article on Aug. 15, 1945, as: “You want a rough idea of what it was like, take New Year’s Eve at Times Square, an old-time mining camp on pay night, Brooklyn the day the Dodgers last copped the pennant, and throw them all together.  A thunderclap of shouting and horn-blowing seconds after the flash that the Japs had surrendered.  Time Square, half an hour after the flash, was jampacked with an estimated 500,00 persons, every one of them a little mad.  There wasn’t a male, from 6 to 60, without a smudge of lipstick on his face.”
It was a great time of celebration for Putnam and the entire country.
Aspinock Memories graces the pages of the Putnam Town Crier to keep Putnam’s history alive.

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caption, page 2:

This is Union Square in celebration of the town's anniversary in 1955. The celebration for the end of WWII might have looked very similar.