Residents Celebrated Japanese Surrender

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By Jennie Jones Giles
All America was celebrating when the Japanese government agreed to end World War II.
On Aug. 14, 1945, the Hendersonville Times-News announced in its headline that an announcement from Japan’s emperor was expected at 11 p.m.:
“No outburst planned until official report received.”
“The Rev. Frank C. Smathers, chairman of the local ministerial association, said that the churches would hold services based upon official announcement of the surrender acceptance.”
“A.S. Rubenstein, chairman of the Merchant’s Division of the Chamber of Commerce, likewise said that stores and places of business would close when the acceptance was officially announced.”
The official report came before the newspaper was published on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 1945.
Scottie Matthews Stinemire of East Flat Rock remembers the moment the announcement was made here.
“I was just 16 years old when the war was going on and I went to work in the weave room at Balfour Textile Mill (Kimberly Clark Co. at Berkeley Mills) because all my brothers were in service. Our boss told us to watch for him to come out of the office when he heard the Japs had surrendered. When that happened, he came out waving his hands and motioned for us to start slamming off all the looms. Everyone was shutting down all the machinery. We were all so happy.
“The ladies had on white aprons and men in their overalls. We didn’t bother to take off our aprons, but lined up, walking up a trail between snowball bushes, over the railroad track and up the hill to Balfour Baptist Church. We had a time of prayer, kneeling on our knees and praising God that soon our loved ones would be returning and asking God to bless and comfort those families whose loved ones had given their lives.”
From newspaper reports and stories of residents, many people in Henderson County and Hendersonville went to churches for thanksgiving upon word of the official announcement. Residents report that church bells were ringing throughout the county. In Hendersonville, residents took to the streets in jubilation.
From the Aug. 15, 1945, Times-News:
“Hendersonville and Henderson County celebrated the end of the war last night in a wild celebration that continued until the wee hours of the morning, but the celebrants, generally, were well-behaved if exuberant, and police officials of the county reported no difficulty from the mass of joyous citizens.
“From the time when the City Hall siren sounded the joyous news, Main Street quickly filled and thousands of shouting people and hundreds of blowing horns let off the steam accumulated by years of warfare plus days of anxious waiting for the ‘final returns.’
“While services in most of the churches are scheduled for 8 p.m. tonight, informal services were held in many churches last night as hundreds of people reverently marked the closing of the war.
“Stores and business houses of the city closed today as did financial institutions and the post office.”
Jenny Erickson McGaha of Brevard was 10 years old and living in Asheville when the news came:
“My family lived on Holland Street in Asheville. The firemen at the station on Merrimon Avenue near Claxton School pulled the trucks out of the bays and turned on the sirens. People were riding around in all types of vehicles, blowing horns and yelling.”
Maureen L. Mohrman of Mills River was 11 years old and living in New York City when all America celebrated.
“The first thing we did when my mother told me the news was to walk four blocks to our parish church in Queens Village, N.Y., and say ‘thank you’ to God. Then my mother took me and a girlfriend into New York City on the subway and we were among thousands and thousands of people at Times Square shouting and hugging and smiling and laughing.”
American soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines were coming home to be with their families, she said.