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With sharpened, thankful emotions, converse and antithetical to those that followed the surprise of Pearl Harbor on that long ago December 7, 1941, the war with Japan, the last of the three Axis powers, came to a dramatic close at 5 p. m., August 14, 1945. This surrender of a foe, who at one time might have won at least phase one of the war by occupying Hawaii, and did, in fact, keep Ms very much on the defensive while invading place after place, extending from Kiska to New Guinea, and including a great portion of China and southern Asia, came only a few days after a_new era, for good or evil, was catalclysmically opened by the dropping of the first atomic bomb.This worst of all wars would be carried on to final victory by the axis ‘‘with every conceivable means”, according to an announcement by Hitler on December 11, 1941.This, however, did not happen, but for long the world will remember Dunkirk, Guadalcanal, AUemagne, Stalingrad, Moscow, TJoral Sea, Battle oi Midway, turning points that started the tide receding.We here in this valley did well our part in a war that called for eleven million men and women, fifty per cent of a nation’s products, and a much nearer totality in related physical and mental war efforts. Of these many physical and mental elements that go to make a war, and through vast cooperative endeavor, carry it to the successful conclusion we have witnessed, the most precious, of course, is human life. This county, on the basis of population, gave liberally in the blood of its sons. Thirty-eight men, in fact, who called this county their home, lost their lives; many in actual combat but all, in the true meaning of the word, lost their lives that we might continue a free people. For survival was truly at stake in this global war.Also, on a percentage basis, this county furnished more than its share of men and women to the armed forces. About 1,051 men and women left this county preceding or during this war and donned the uniform. When we joined in the fight against the Axis, and were in a twenty to twenty-five per cent war economy, there were then 119 men from this county in the armed forces.The fact should be emphasized that these honored men and women who, regardless of length of service, rank attained, or experiences, had one thing in common. That was constant availability. They were available at all times to perform this or that duty in accordance with the demands of the moment, to the best interest of the whole* whether in, combat, behind the lines, or on the American continent.In addition to supplying much of that most priceless element of war, men and women, this county has likewise done its share in the all-around economy weighted so heavily toward war They have produced under conditions that would have been impossible had not it been for the deep, abiding faith in their sons and daughters, and the great cause for which their country was fightingThis truly patriotic spirit was also reflected by donating generously to every USO and Red Cross drive; by over-subscribing every bond quota; by collecting huge quantities of scrap; by doing conscientiously and thoroughly all those things which, when taken together, form the stuff of war and generate the will to fight and persevere.Now after three years, eight months and seven days of actual war, preceded a short while by preparation and a decade of war psychosis in most parts of the world, we come suddenly and rejoicingly to a peace, a peace which must be kept or else in the light of radar, V-I, V-iEI, the jet plane, and lastly, the atomic bomb, men can no longer inhabit this earth. We face a peace and an era of reconstruction hopefully and knowing that we must condition ourselves out of war, but that it will be much tst£r and certainly more joyful that the conditioning period for warGenerally speaking, in Montpelier and elsewhere in the county, there are many, many things to be done so that we who live now may more fully enjoy the good things on this earth. Our things are sort of run down, badly in need of repair or replacing. Think of those many items we said we would get after the war; or those improvements that were going to be made when once that joyful post-war period name. It is here now* and with the help of those returning, ready to make the most of. For those who do not return, what we do better, we are sure, would be much to their liking.
Newspaper Details
Montpelier News Examiner
Montpelier, Idaho, US
Thu, Aug 16, 1945
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Kimberly M.
UT, USA 08 Jul 2021
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