Things began to look up when the Nazis surrendered on May 7, 1945. James Gallagher, the Cubs vice president hailed V-E Day with a baseball metaphor: "The unconditional surrender of Germany has put our armies on second base. One more hit against the Japs and we can send all the boys home."
When the Japanese surrendered on August 14, the Cubs were on a roll, playing the Brooklyn Dodgers that day. "We didn't get to bed until 3 or 4 in the morning, but we beat the Dodgers by maybe 16 runs," Don Johnson remembers.
--GreGen
My Cooter's History Blog has become about 80% World War II anyway, so I figured to start a blog specific to it, especially since we're commemorating its 70th anniversary and we are quickly losing this "Greatest Generation." The quote is taken from Pearl Harbor survivor Frank Curre, who was on the USS Tennessee that day. He died Dec. 7, 2011, seventy years to the day. His photo is below at right.
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
The Cubs, World War II and Chicago in 1945-- Part 6: V-E and V-J Days
Labels:
Chicago,
Chicago Cubs,
homefront,
V-E Day,
V-J Day
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