Today is the official 75th Anniversary of the end of WW2 in Europe (May 8th, 1945). So in honour of this very important day, I thought I would share photos from the celebrations that happened in Canada (and Canadians in Europe). Let the Party Begin!

1940s vintage photo of V-E Day May 1945 photo of Canadian's holding a newsapaper saying "Unconditional Surrender". Women are wearing 1940s hairstyles & 1940s fashions.

Source: Canadian Encyclopedia via Memory Project

Canada Celebrates V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day) May 8th, 1945

The Vintage Photos

The Toronto V-E Day Celebrations

Among the first Canadians to celebrate were the sailors on naval and merchant ships on the Atlantic, and soldiers and airmen based in Europe. Their long ordeal would soon be coming to an end, although many would still be tasked with providing security to occupied Germany, and bringing aid to the Netherlands, where the Dutch were desperate for emergency food and medical supplies distributed by Canadian forces. Across the Netherlands, Canadians were cheered and welcomed as heroes.

Check out this BRAND NEW Heritage Minute that showcases the Liberation of Netherlands (Video Clip).

At home in Canada, massive crowds filled city streets. There were parades, band concerts, tickertape dropped from the sky by aircraft, and spontaneous singing, dancing and exuberance. Offices, stores and some factories closed for the day, while other factories remained open, churning out war material for the ongoing battles in the Pacific.

Canadian students also left their classrooms to take part in the festivities, or to attend special religious services of thanksgiving. In towns and cities and rural villages there were prayers and tears of relief, as well as music, happy shouting and, for the most part, good-natured partying.

“The silencing of the guns in Europe,” said The Globe and Mail, “brought release from bondage of the spirit.” (Source).

In Toronto (my adopted Home town), the city organized concerts, parades, religious services, and fireworks in the parks (Source).

1940s vintage photo: May 7th 1945 picture of VE Day Celebrations in Toronto. Germany Surrenders as seen in the Toronto Star

Source: Toronto Archives

V-E Day celebrations on Bay Street in Toronto May 7, 1945.

Source: Toronto Archives

Women walking arm-in-arm down Bay Street on V-E Day. Fantastic 1940s Fashions!

1940s vintage photo of Celebrating VE Day on Bay Street in Toronto. The image features 4 women hand in hand walking down the street in 1940s fashions.

Source: Toronto Archives

P.C. Harry Carroll at V-E Day celebrations, looking north on Bay Street towards Queen Street, May 8, 1945.

Source: Toronto Archives

Children celebrating V-E Day on May 8, 1945 in Toronto.

1940s vintage photo of Children celebrating V-E Day May 8, 1945

Source: Toronto Archives

Victory in Europe Day (VE-Day) celebrations, Toronto, Ontario, May 1945.

Source: Flickr

For more photos please visit the city of Toronto Website dedicated to this special day HERE.

Other Canadian Cities Celebrations

Crowd celebrating VE-Day, Montréal, Quebec, May 8, 1945.

Source: Flickr

The Halifax VE–Day riots, 7–8 May 1945 in Halifax and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia began as a celebration of the World War II Victory in Europe. This rapidly evolved into a rampage by several thousand servicemen, merchant seamen and civilians, who looted the City of Halifax.

Raucous crowds on Barrington Street in Nova Scotia celebrate the end of the war. Tip Top Tailors in the background is a men’s store that still exists today .

1940s vintage photo of Raucous crowds on Barrington Street in Nova Scotia celebrate the end of the war.

Source: CBC.ca

Crowd at the Victory Loan Indicator, Confederation Square, on VE-Day, Ottawa, Ontario (Canada’s Capital for those not in the know).

1940s vintage photo of a Crowd at the Victory Loan Indicator, Confederation Square, on VE-Day, Ottawa, Ontario

Source: Flickr

Vancouver Celebrates V-E Day.

1940s vintage photo of VE Day in Vancouver, May 8, 1945.

Source: Daily Hive

The After Party from the above Vancouver Celebrations.

1940s vintage photo of Leftover revelry lines the streets after V.E. Day celebrations conclude.Vancover, BC 1945

Source: Daily Hive

I LOVE this Photo! A group at SHAEF Headquarters reading the special VE-Day edition of the Maple Leaf newspaper, Paris, France, May 11, 1945.

1940s vintage photo of a group at SHAEF Headquarters reading the special VE-Day edition of the Maple Leaf newspaper, Paris, France, May 11, 1945

Source: Flickr

Canadian Women’s Army Corps, World War 2, celebrating VE Day in London on May 7th 1945.

1940s vintage photo of the Canadian Women's Army Corps, World War 2, celebrating VE Day in London

Source: Flickr

Canadian soldiers celebrating VE-Day, Piccadilly Circus, London, England, May 8, 1945.

Source: Flickr

I hope you enjoyed my post on Canadian Celebrations near and far. It was a great post to put together for my reader. I also want to thank you to all our veterans, men and woman who served during WW2 that helped make V-E Day possible. Your sacrifices will never be forgotten.

Lastly, for fantastic reading on Canadians during WW2 please check out my friend Elinor Florence’s Blog, ‘Wartime Wednesday‘. Her interviews with veterans are fascinating and worth a moment (or two) of your time.

Have a nice weekend friends!

Further Reading:

World War 2 Women’s Contributions & Homefront Posts

Liz

The Star Weekly At War : Blog: Wartime Wednesdays | Elinor Florence. Image of a Rosie the Riveter 1940s Woman going to work walking between 2 men in uniform

Source: Elinor Florence

Today’s, Vintage Photo Tuesday, are wartime photos of women doing their part during WW2. This is not a new topic for me as I have shared posts on the home front effort many times before (see end of post) but I really wanted to do it again to stress how important it is to “Do Your Part”. For us in 2020 that means just staying home. For the ladies (and of course the men) during WW2 it meant leaving the home and heading into factories, hospitals and overseas.

Let’s take a look at this weeks photos….

Vintage Photos of the Women of World War 2

Helping with the War Effort

1940s Photo of a women working in a WW2 Factory. This is Miss Elsie Richards of Bulladelah, who assisted her parents in the running of a store, now she machines the copper driving band of 25 pounder shells.

1940s Photo of a women working in a WW2 Factory. She is wearing a hair turban to protect her hair from the machines.

Source: Flickr

Willa Beatrice Brown (January 22, 1906 – July 18, 1992) was an American aviator, lobbyist, teacher, and civil rights activist.

She was the first African-American woman to earn her pilot’s license in the United States, the first African-American woman to run for the United States Congress, the first African-American officer in the US Civil Air Patrol, and the first woman in the United States to have both a pilot’s license and a mechanic’s license.

A lifelong advocate for gender and racial equality in flight and in the military, Brown not only lobbied the U.S. government to integrate the U.S. Army Air Corp and include African Americans in the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP), but also co-founded the Cornelius Coffey School of Aeronautics with Cornelius Coffey, which was the first private flight training academy in the United States owned and operated by African Americans.

She trained hundreds of pilots, several of whom would go on to become Tuskegee Airmen (Source). YES!!!!

1940s Vintage Photo: Willa Beatrice Brown was the first black woman to earn a pilot's license in the US, and is widely credited with helping to create the squadron that became known as the Tuskegee Airmen.

Source: Wikipedia

1940s Photo: View of the main operations room shows mostly women volunteers “plotting” the position of the Victoria Air Sector, 25 aircraft aloft at the time.

1940s Photo: View of the main operations room shows mostly women volunteers "plotting" position of the Victoria Air Sector, 25 aircraft aloft at the time.

Source: Flickr

1944 Photo of Sergeant Karen M. Hermiston of the Canadian Women’s Army Corps, holding a Rolleiflex camera.

Source: Flickr

U.K. Women carpenters, 1941 photo. 16 year old Stella Day drills a hole in a wooden beam during the production of huts at this workshop, somewhere in England, 1941. According to the original caption, Miss Day’s father is a Petty Officer in the Royal Navy.

1940s Photo: U.K. Women carpenters, 1941 photo. 16 year old Stella Day drills a hole in a wooden beam during the production of huts at this workshop, somewhere in England, 1941. According to the original caption, Miss Day’s father is a Petty Officer in the Royal Navy.

Source: Imperial War Museum

Los Angeles, Calif. — Miss Ethel Mildred Lee, 23-year-old girl born in this country of Chinese parents, is shown at her job as an electrician-helper at the Los Angeles yards of the California Shipbuilding Corporation, where she has worked for almost two years.

Extra incentives to help the war effort are two brothers in the U.S. Army and one in the Navy yard at Honolulu, Hawaii. Miss Lee, who’s 4 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 98 pounds, buys $100 worth or War Bonds a month. — January 20, 1944

1940s Vintage Photo of a young Chinese woman working in a WW2 factory. Miss Ethel Mildred Lee, 23-year-old girl born in this country of Chinese parents, is shown at her job as an electrician-helper at the Los Angeles yards of the California Shipbuilding Corporation, where she has worked for almost two years.

Source: Tumblr

Two Army nurses sit on the steps at Cape Gloucester, New Britain in August 1944.

Source: Digital Collections of the National WW2 Museum

1940s Photo of a young Black woman working on a machine in a factory. According to the Library of Congress, “Plant foremen point to 20-year-old Annie Tabor as one of their best lathe operators, despite her lack of previous industrial experience.”

1940s Vintage Photo: 1940s Photo of a young Black woman working on a machine in a factory. According to the Library of Congress, "Plant foremen point to 20-year-old Annie Tabor as one of their best lathe operators, despite her lack of previous industrial experience."

Source: Buzzfeed

ATS anti-aircraft artillery spotters learn to use an identification telescope at No.7 ATS Training Centre at Stoughton near Guildford, 24 September 1941.

1940s Photo: ATS anti-aircraft artillery spotters learn to use an identification telescope at No.7 ATS Training Centre at Stoughton near Guildford, 24 September 1941.

Source: Imperial War Museum

1940s Photo of a Women Ordnance Worker (WOWs) during World War II. Wartime posters celebrating these women, who worked in war plants making weapons, ammunition, and other military supplies. The most famous WOW was Rosie the Riveter.

1940s Photo of a Women Ordnance Worker (WOWs) during World War II. The most famous WOW was Rosie the Riveter.

Source: Tumblr

“The WOW bandana, designed in accordance with U.S. Army specifications, is an attractive, safe, and unifying head covering to identify women ordnance workers. About 27” square, it is available either in ordnance red with white ordnance insignia, or in white with red ordnance insignia. Every woman in your plant will want one – it’s a “WOW” for morale!“ (Ad, 1943).

The head scarf with flaming bomb designs became the symbol of women working in war industries (Source).

1940s Vintage ad for The WOW bandana, designed in accordance with U.S. Army specifications, is an attractive, safe, and unifying head covering to identify women ordnance workers

Source: Tumblr

Here are other posts on Women on the Home Front that you should check out, as we near the end of Women’s History Month:

World War 2 Women’s Contributions & Homefront Posts

Hope everyone is doing well and keeping safe!

Liz

Category: WW2