The Last Victory Over Japan (V-J) Day Commemorations in America?
The tradition of celebrating the end of WWII still happens every year. Proponents say the holiday has nothing to do with the Japanese and everything to do with remembering history.
Since 1945, the city of Seymour, Indiana has celebrated the second weekend of August with a parade. Bands march, multi-hued antique cars roll slowly by with waving drivers - it's all the standard customs of a good old-fashion holiday celebration for American veterans who sacrificed for their country.
It's the city's 62nd year hosting this parade, said Toby Milroy, commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1925, to the Pacific Citizen days before the Aug. 12 festivities. The veterans' group has traditionally organized the annual event for the city of 20,000 that prides itself in its small town feel. This was Milroy's first year at the helm of parade planning. Some of the highlights in this year's parade were a float that depicted the famous American flag raising on the island of Iwo Jima and a horse drawn hearse.
What began as a day to celebrate the defeat of Japan and the end of World War II is now the city of Seymour's official salute to all American war heroes.
"It's to honor our soldiers and celebrate all veterans from all wars," said Milroy about the parade.
Despite broadening its scope beyond honoring WWII heroes, Seymour is one of the few U.S. cities that still celebrates Aug. 14, 1945 - the end of WWII or Victory Over Japan (V-J) Day.
Carrying on the Tradition
Moosup, Connecticut proudly calls its own V-J Day parade one of the last in America. This year's Aug. 12 event themed "Spirit of Freedom" tried to recapture the jubilant emotions that poured out into the streets in 1945 when news broke about the end of the war.
Across the nation these days, the feelings are mixed about the historic day.
Seymour's and Moosup's parades are the last of a fading tradition that has taken on a different meaning over the years. On the other side of the world, a different type of remembrance is held each year in Japan to mourn the hundreds of thousands of victims of the atomic bomb attacks.
Milroy's voice softens when he mentions this point. A few years ago, some Seymour elected officials questioned the political correctness of the parade, especially since Japanese companies like Aisin USA, an automotive parts manufacturer, has its 650,000 square-foot manufacturing and 100,000 square-foot logistics facilities within Seymour city limits.
But the Japanese businesses and residents don't see the V-J Day parade as a personal malign, officials say.
"It's nothing against anyone," said Milroy. "We're just carrying on the tradition in memory of our freedom."
In Moosup, uniformed marchers of all generations, including a Revolutionary War fife band, march in unity. For many residents and community members the event is carefully guarded tradition important to commemorate rain or shine especially for those who fought in the war and remember the day vividly.
WWII MIS Veteran Grant Ichikawa saw both sides of the historic day. On Aug. 14, 1945, Ichikawa was in the Philippines when news of Japan's surrender reached his ears like triumphant music.
"Had Japan not surrendered and if the invasion of Japan proper took place, I may not have had the opportunity to enjoy the life I did have after World War II," said Ichikawa.
He celebrated along with the rest of America on that day and three months later witnessed the other side of victory as part of a U.S. inspection team that visited the devastated cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in November 1945.
Sixty-two years after the original V-J Day, a few cities like Moosup and Seymour still hold onto the tradition of celebrating the historic day despite the modern day debate on its political correctness. To many, V-J Day is an important reminder of the absolute end of war atrocities. But to critics, the day and its parades are the last vestiges of a discriminatory commemoration.
A State Holiday
In Rhode Island, there is no Victory in Europe (V-E) Day holiday in May, but V-J Day is an official state holiday. On the second Monday of August, businesses are closed and residents enjoy a long weekend.
Rhode Island is the only state in the U.S. that formerly recognizes V-J Day as a state holiday. On paper, it's officially called "Victory Day," but local businesses have always incorrectly referred to the holiday as V-J Day to advertise sales and promotional events, said Sen. Rhoda Perry.
"I hate the fact the state that I have served for almost 20 years now has such a discriminatory holiday," said Perry, who proposed two bills in her first and second term to change the name of the holiday to "Peace Day" or a variation on that. Both attempts failed because of extreme opposition from local veterans' groups and unions who didn't want the holiday changed or eradicated.
"There are people here who are related to the veterans' organization who are proud that Rhode Island is the only state that celebrates V-J Day," added Perry.
Before Perry, Reps. Elizabeth Morancy and Linda J. Kushner also tried to pass legislation to change the name of the holiday with no success. In the 1990s, advocates including attorney Phil Tajitsu Nash and Steve Rabson, a professor at Brown University, sought to file a lawsuit that would require a change of the holiday's name, but this effort failed too because no one volunteered to be plaintiffs.
Since then, the advocates have ended their efforts for change and have resolved to simply ignore the holiday's designation as much as possible, said Rabson.
But some Rhode Island residents still bristle at the mention of the holiday.
"Victory Day? Victory for what? Victory for war?" asked Mikki Lima of the Rhode Island Japan Society Language and Cultural Center.
Lima, a Shin Issei, vocally criticized the holiday last year in a local newspaper article.
"I had so many nasty phone calls from everywhere," she said about the aftermath.
But for a holiday that some Rhode Island groups fought so hard to keep, not a lot of fanfare goes into the day's commemoration. Some veteran's groups gather in small ceremonies, but no parades wend through the streets of Rhode Island, said Lima.
"... I can't help but think that it's not much of a big deal, at least for young people!" said Carl Takei, a Yonsei from the New England JACL who lived in Providence to attend Brown University. "My guess is that most Rhode Islanders who aren't part of the WWII generation just see it as a day off from work. And I never felt unwelcome or uncomfortable being a JA in Rhode Island."
Despite the lack of activities, Rhode Islanders do know why there is a day off, said Jessica Kawamura, a Berkeley JACL member who recently graduated from Brown University. Plus, the holiday has the endorsement of the government, she added.
"To me as a JA, it is still significant that Rhode Island celebrates V-J Day and not V-E Day. Perhaps it would be more appropriate if Americans celebrated neither," said Kawamura who also pointed out that Rhode Island has a large and influential Italian American community, but a very small JA population. "I think that this influences the practices in the state; however, my impression is that Rhode Island continues the practice out of habit and tradition rather than distain for the Japanese."
Twenty years have past since Perry last pushed the state's General Assembly to change the holiday's name. She tells the P.C. that perhaps it is time for her to try again; especially since the Asian Pacific American population has grown in the state.
"I think it would be wonderfully sensitive and progressive if Rhode Island eradicated such a discriminatory holiday," Perry added.
One WWII veteran agrees.
"To me, celebrating V-J Day every year would be an embarrassment for the U.S. government for publicizing the use of atomic bombs to win a war, but the war had to be won even if it took atom bombs to win the war," said Ichikawa.
"I celebrated V-J Day once in 1945 and I would say let the history books note the date of V-J Day," he added.
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