As today is the 75th Anniversary of D-Day, I thought it would be interesting to see how the invasion and its immediate aftermath was covered in the pages of the
Lorain Journal.
It’s hard to imagine experiencing a war only through newspaper and radio coverage, with only the occasional newsreel at the movies. But as you can see, the Journal was packed with expanded war coverage and highly detailed analysis for readers who wanted to know exactly what was going on.
Here then, are the front pages (and some select inside pages) of the
Journal for June 5, 1944 – June 12, 1944, courtesy of the Lorain Public Library. Click on each for a larger, more readable version. As usual, there are plenty of other things on each page of interest (such as Nazi prisoners working in the Amherst Quarries).
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| June 5, 1944 |
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| June 6, 1944 |
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| June 6, 1944 Page 2 |
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| June 6, 1944 – page 3 |
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| June 6, 1944 – Page 4 |
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| June 6, 1944 – Page 9 |
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| June 6, 1944 – Page 11 |
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| June 7, 1944 |
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| June 7, 1944 – Page 2 |
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| June 7, 1944 – Page 4 |
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| June 8, 1944 |
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| June 8, 1944 – Page 2 |
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| June 8, 1944 – Page 4 |
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| June 9, 1944 |
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| June 9, 1944 – Page 2 |
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| June 10, 1944 |
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| June 10, 1944 – Page 2 |
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| June 12, 1944 |
It’s interesting that on D-Day, there were War Bonds ads sponsored by local businesses that seemed to be designed specifically for that day, such as the one for Seymour’s Jewelry. "THIS IS IT – The Battle to Save the World” reads the ad’s headline. The one for Smith & Gerhart even features Hitler.
Also of interest to anyone who ever asked, “
What does the “D” in “D-Day” stand for?” is the article that ran on D-Day on page 3 entitled WORLD’S FATE TO AGAIN BE DECIDED ON FRENCH SOIL. It notes, “Dramatically, the signal for the greatest “D” day of the war, the opening of the second battle of France was given by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, an American whose whole country was befriended by the French in the darkest hours of its struggle for independence many years ago.”
This sentence seems to support the idea that the “D” is generic, and that wars have many D-Days.
Thanks for posting all of these - it'll keep me busy for a few days!!
ReplyDeleteTheresa
Great post, Dan!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nice comments. I wish the enlarged newspaper images were bigger and a little clearer, but the Blogger software seems to have a size restriction for images that are uploaded.
ReplyDelete