Hartford Courant Photography Blog knowing they had an uncle that came to America. Because of the photo, I found the family my father sought out for 75 years and never found. Just a couple of years ago, they came to America to visit me.
I think there are a few reasons that photo is one of a handful of the most famous images of that era. America has been involved in other wars, but during World War II there were 15 million men in my age group in the service. So, just about every American family had at least a son, or two, in the war. If a house had two sons serving, they had two stars hanging in there window. If they had three kids in the war, they had a pennant hanging in the window. It was the adult people in America that were involved in World War II and when it all ended it was the adults in America that celebrated and went wild. The scene in Times Square, in which there weren’ t that many sailors present, it was a celebration of the people.
The recognition is something I feel I share with the Sullivan family and all of the crew on The Sullivans. I’ ve always felt that the Sullivans suffered far greater than any other family in America during the war. They lost five sons. So I felt like somehow it was meant
to be, that it was the helmsman from The Sullivans that showed up in Times Square on that day. One of my greatest honors was being a part of a big parade in Iowa on the 50th anniversary of their death, with the crew, all these heroes present for the occasion.
A question a lot of folks often ask me is whether I think dropping the atomic bomb was the right decision. I will always say that it was. Guys in the service felt it was fortunate Harry Truman was president because they believed other presidents wouldn’ t have dropped the bomb. There was a photo after the war was over and the bombs were dropped that shows Harry Truman sitting behind his desk in Washington. In the scene, his daughter is there and the news media is there, and President Truman is being interviewed.
The interviewer asked him,“ Do you think it was the right thing to drop that bomb?”
His response was,“ Damn right it was.” He was confident in his decision and it prevented a lot more American boys from an inevitable invasion of Japan. I stand by that decision.
AVQ
NOW MARRIED FOR ALMOST 70 YEARS, GEORGE AND RITA WERE SEEING A MOVIE AT RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL FOR THEIR FIRST DATE ON AUGUST 14, 1945. THE SHOW WAS STOPPED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FILM AS PEOPLE BEGAN POUNDING ON THE DOORS WITH THE NEWS ALL HAD YEARNED TO HEAR- THE WAR WAS OVER.
THE YOUNG COUPLE MADE THEIR WAY TO THE NEAREST BAR, WHERE GEORGE LATER ADMITTED TO CELEBRATING WITH A FEW DRINKS, BEFORE JOINING THE THRONGS IN TIMES SQUARE
REMEMBERING THE DEVOTION TO DUTY OF THE NURSES WHO TENDED THE WOUNDED OF USS BUNKER HILL OFF OKINAWA, AND CAUGHT UP IN THE ELATION OF THE DAY, GEORGE KISSED THE FIRST NURSE HE SAW. THE MOMENT, CAPTURED ON FILM, SUMMED UP MUCH MORE THAN ONE DAY- IT CAPTURED THE SPIRIT OF A GENERATION, AND EVERYTHING THEY HAD FOUGHT FOR OVER THREE AND A HALF YEARS.
14 AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY