Victory Day Celebration 1945 Part 2

Here's the front page of the Monday, October 1, 1945 Lorain Journal with the coverage of the Lorain/Lorain County Victory Day celebration. (Click on it for a closer look.) A portion of the Journal's account went like this:

"All Lorain and Lorain-co settled back to a normal life today after a Victory Day celebration yesterday that proved beyond a doubt that the city and the country are proud of their No. 1 son and their men and women who helped bring victory and peace to the nation and the world.

It was a great day, one that will long be remembered by Admiral Ernest J. King, honored guest of the day, the 10,000 persons who marched in a gigantic two-hour parade and by the 150,000 to 200,000 who lined the parade route and jammed Lakeview Park for brief ceremonies late in the afternoon."

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Today is the deadline for the Lorain City Schools to accept submissions for a new name for AKHS, made necessary due to the fear and concern that consolidating the Southview and current AKHS students under the Admiral King banner would result in violence.

If there is still any doubt as to whether the Admiral King name should be retained, please read the following editorial that ran in the September 29, 1945 Lorain Journal, two days before the edition shown above.

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A Salute to the Admiral

There is honor and glory for all the members of our armed forces who fought the magnificent battles which resulted in the defeat of Germany and Japan.

Lorain is justly proud of Admiral Ernest J. King, commander-in-chief of the United States Fleet, whom it is honoring at the Victory day celebration Sunday. But it is proud of him not so much because of his high position as because he is a symbol of all the boys, living and dead, who left homes and families in Lorain and went to fight the enemy.

War is a grim business which requires the utmost effort of every soldier and sailor, as well as every civilian. Not all can be leaders. It is given to some to occupy the spotlight, and to others to fill subordinate positions in which they may serve with equal energy and sacrifice.

What thrills Lorain about Admiral King is that he is a man's man, a sailor's sailor who embodies the highest virtues attributed to the individual American serviceman who successfully carried the nation through its greatest crisis.

Admiral King's story by now is well-known to practically every Lorain resident. Hardly a national magazine but has published at least one highly laudatory article about the admiral since he assumed command of the nation's naval forces.

He is generally credited with taking the U. S. Navy at its lowest ebb and whipping it into shape for a grueling four-year campaign which would have been considered impossible a few years ago.

From every standpoint, Admiral King is the ideal representation of military strength and greatness. In his middle 60's, he is tall and straight, and his chin is firm. He has a reputation for strict discipline. As a ship's captain he always "ran a taut ship," as the naval saying goes, and this spirit soon spread into all naval operations. It is said that the man who does his work to the best of his ability never has trouble with Admiral King. The man who doesn't never has anything else.

He knows intimately and at first hand problems and capacities of all three branches of the fighting navy. He served during his earlier years with the underseas fleet, the aviation branch, (qualifying easily as a pilot), and the surface Navy.

He has had the benefit of a keen, practical brain and wide experience. He was fourth in his class at Annapolis and attained a cold, objective mastery of the art of war.

He thinks in straight lines that produce superb organization. He has had at his command a wily sense of strategy that has assisted him in laying many traps, such as that at Midway for the unsuspecting Japanese Navy.

With all this, he is eminently human, has a saving sense of humor, and takes genuine pleasure in coming back to the home town – which he has managed to do three times during the busy war years.

We are proud to welcome back Admiral King at the end of the war which he assisted so materially in winning, and at the same time to pay tribute to the thousands of boys who fought the fight with him.