#TBT - Victory Days
104 years ago (tomorrow), on November 11, 1918, World War I in Europe effectively came to an end. On that day, the Allied Powers and Central Powers agreed to an armistice, ending the conflict on the Western Front. While the war did not officially end until the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, the armistice singled the end of the war that had been raging since 1914.
Armco Ambulance Corps
When the armistice when into effect, millions of U.S. Troops had made their way to France and Europe to fight on the side of the Allied Powers. Amongst those troops were a group of men from Armco, primarily from the Armco Middletown Works, known as the Armco Ambulance Corps. Below some of their recollections of the armistice as it was happening around them:
For more information about and letters from the Armco Ambulance Corps, check out the Armco Ambulance Corp Collection at this link: http://www.midpointedigitalarchives.org/digital/collection/p16488coll15. The collection consists of over 250 letters, cablegrams, and telegrams written by members of the Armco Ambulance Corps, George M. Verity, and others during World War I.
27 years later another war in Europe ended. Known as V-E day or Victory in Europe, May 8, 1945 marks the day that Nazi Germany surrendered, and World War II in Europe came to a close. V-J day or Victory over Japan Day wouldn’t come about until September 2, 1945.
Below are letters from Captain Virginia Shewalter of the WAC, describing what V-E day was like for her while stationed in France:
1945-05-08
8 May 1945 Dear Mom - Here it is - that day we've been waiting for so long - VE day. It just doesn't seem possible. What did you do last night? And what are you doing now? I could just see you all whipping up a poker game or something and staying up all night - that is if Dad were home - or did you go to church? Strangely enough, things seem just the same here. Last night, I had to drill my Company for a ceremony we are going to have to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of the WAC next Monday, 14 May, so I couldn't go along with the rest of the bunch when they went to Versailles to go through the Palace Grounds. They planned to pick me up on the way back so while I waited after I finished drilling. I took a walk into our famous forest just outside our little town and then through the Park. It was lovely - so quiet, peaceful and cool - it seemed just the perfect place to be for such a thing. When Joe and Charlie and the rest came back, I went to their place and we sat around and talked, then we had to take a friend of Charlie's who was visiting him back to Paris so Joe and I rode along. This was about midnight. Throngs of people were gathered around the Arc de Triumphe and along the Champs Elysees. Some were pretty well tipsy and they were having a fine old time staggering down the Avenue shouting and singing at the top of their lungs. Others were just walking along, and others, like us, standing on a corner watching
Click each image for transcripts.
