Daily Bulletin | Aug. 8, 1945 The first report of an eyewitness to the launching of the S.S. North Platte [Victory] at the Wilmington yards of the California Shipbuilding Corp. was contained in a personal letter to City Clerk L.E. Mehlmann from W.B. “Boomer” Brown, retired en- gineer of the U.P., now living at Long Beach, Calif.: “Your letter reached me on July 27, and I started at once to get together a crowd of former resi- dents of North Platte to be in attendance at the launching of the Ship North Platte, which took place on Friday, Aug. 3, at 5:30 p.m. “We had a crowd of 200 or more, and it was a beautiful and inspiring sight to all present. … It was good to see that name NORTH PLATTE in large letters of gold along the front end of the boat, and I think all present were thrilled at see- ing it there to represent our old home town. … “The North Platte Canteen came in at the
launching for a lot of comment as to the won- derful work they were doing for the enlisted men moving thru there, and I think, without doubt, that it was thru it [the Canteen] that our city was chosen to have a ship bear the name NORTH PLATTE.” On Aug. 9, the world’s second nuclear bomb exploded over Nagasaki. The Soviet Union had de- clared war on Japan the previous day. The Pacific- bound troops kept bounding into the Canteen — and the Signal Corps film crew was still nearby. Daily Bulletin | Aug. 10, 1945 There was no slackening of work at the North Platte Canteen yesterday as 28 trains passed thru the city. … Upwards to 6,000 service personnel were greeted at the center yesterday as the contin- ued increase of troop movement was apparent. Daily Bulletin | Aug. 11, 1945 The enterprise of a North Platte youth, Gene Slattery, has been recorded on film as part of the Army Signal Corps picture of the North Platte Canteen. The youthful ambassador of the Canteen auc- tioned his now-famous shirt, again, at the Platte Valley Sales Pavilion yesterday for $19 as cameras whirred. … The prospect of being able to complete the film with shots of the local observance of V-J Day also caused some little speculation. The crew is nearing
Graffiti on the side of a military transport train.
the end of production and will probably complete their work here over the weekend, with Monday or Tuesday a possibility. The morning Daily Bulletin and afternoon Telegraph both hit the streets on Aug. 14 (the latter dated Aug. 15) without formal word from Tokyo. It was officially Aug. 15 in Tokyo, however, when Emperor Hirohito told his subjects by radio that they would surrender. After President Truman confirmed the news at 6 p.m. North Platte time on the 14th, The Telegraph rushed an extra declaring “PEACE!” onto the streets. The Army Signal Corps film crew captured images of several copies brandished by soldiers, sailors and jubilant residents jubilantly parading up, down and all around their three-block-square downtown south of the Canteen.
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Troops rush back to their train after visiting the Canteen.
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