Did You know?
On Nov. 2, 1944, U.S. Sen. Harry S. Truman, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, rode through the streets of Uniontown.
According to the Uniontown Evening Standard’s account of the visit, Truman told the nearly 2,000 enthusiastic Republicans and Democrats who gathered on the lawn of the Fayette County Courthouse, “This district has done a magnificent job of winning the war.”
World War II, though, was still not quite over. There was no denying Truman’s premise. Fayette County had contributed mightily to the war effort.
On just about every morning, or evening, Fayette County’s newspaper readers opened their papers and see the photographs of their sons and daughters who had served their country with valor, or tragically they had paid with their lives.
Within days of Truman’s campaign stop, he would get swept into the vice presidency. He would only serve 82 uneventful days, before he would replace Franklin D. Roosevelt as this nation’s 33rd president.
Truman inherited the burden of a world at war on two fronts and he would, in August 1945, authorize the only use of atomic weapons in history — at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“Formal Jap Surrender Tonight” was the headline emblazed across the top of the Connellsville Daily Courier on Sept. 1, 1945.
The war was over.
It was then time for the Americans to begin the slow and steady process (with an ample assist from Fayette County) of building the greatest nation the world ever had seen.
Here’s what happened locally that September 1945.
Sept. 4 — “Throng Gathers at East Park for V-J Day Program” was the headline for a story about the 1,200 people who had shown their gratitude for the war effort at a Connellsville park.
Beside that story was a list of western Pennsylvania military officers who were mustering out of the military at Indiantown Gap.
Sept. 5 — 23-year-old aviation radioman Charles Buchiet of Uniontown RD3 was among the 101 prisoners released from a Japanese internment camp.
Buchiet had lost 35 pounds during the 10 months he had been held by the enemy.
Sept. 6 — “Five County Soldiers Win Medals” was the headline for a Daily Courier story about the awards that were given posthumously for battlefield gallantry to five Fayette County natives.
Sept. 8 — “American Flag Raised Over Tokyo” was the headline for the positive story on the front page of the Connellsville Courier.
But there was sad news on the same page. “Discharged Sailor Admits Slaying in Bushes Along Road” was the headline for a story about an 18-year-old wounded war veteran who had been charged with killing a 17-year-old known as the “Sunshine Girl” of Fayette City.
Fayette County District Attorney H. Vance Cottom said the alleged murderer told him, “I don’t know why I did it.”
Sept. 10 — There are attempts to have the confessed killer of the “Sunshine Girl” re-enact the crime. So far, according to the Connellsville Courier, he didn’t want to talk about the crime.
There was good news that day. It was announced that meat rationing would end on Oct. 1, with shoe rationing ending a short time later.
Sept. 11 — It was discovered that the highest-ranking Connellsville resident in the Philippines at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor — Maj. Harry W. Schenck — had died in February in a Japanese prison camp.
Sept. 12 — The war had officially been over for 11 days, but the military draft continued.
“28 Will be Inducted from the County” was the headline that day in the Connellsville Courier. The WWII draft would officially end in 1947.
Sept. 17 — While WWII had just ended there was a front-page story in the Uniontown Morning Herald reminding everyone there was still an enemy to be fought, and eventually defeated — polio.
Uniontown’s city health director reported that the first case of polio in three years had been discovered.
More than a dozen homes were placed in quarantine, the child’s books were destroyed and her desk at school had been given a “thorough cleansing.”
Meanwhile, it was reported that day that Lafayette Junior High School’s science teacher Robert Fee was taking a sabbatical to get his master of science degree from the University of Pittsburgh.
(Note: Fee was my ninth-grade science teacher. He probably needed more than a master’s degree to have succeeded in teaching me science.)
Sept. 18 — “County Divorce Mill Getting Record Rush” was the headline of a story about the increased number of divorces between returning soldiers and the wives they left behind.
In numerous published court documents it was alleged that some men who had served overseas discovered that their wives had given birth to children they hadn’t fathered.
Sept. 24 — Uniontown’s supervisor of the Bureau of Recreation, J.S. Albright, Jr., reported that the summer’s playground program served 43,162 boys and girls.
Six movies that had been shown at Bailey Park were seen by 10,000 people.
Sept. 25 — It was reported that three Zacovic brothers of Clark Street in Uniontown had played some role in the dropping of the atomic bombs that led to the Japanese surrender.
Sept. 27 — Former Uniontown Mayor William J. Crow, who had been called to active military service while still in office, is shown on the front page of the Morning Herald receiving a Bronze Star for his meritorious service.
Sept. 28 — It was announced that five members of the Uniontown Police Department had received their second-class licenses to operate the new two-way radio communications system.
Before then, officers had to report to a signal light to get information from a desk sergeant who spoke through a telephone hook-up.
Edward A. Owens can be reached by email at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.