1945: Japan’s Surrender in WWII Shuts Down Cleveland For Two Days

With more than 3,000 Clevelanders dying in the efforts that brought the allies victory in Europe and Japan, 10 of those lives were lost when Imperial Japan opened the war with the United States by bombing Pearl Harbor on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941.

One of those killed was Rear Admiral Isaac Kidd, a native of Cleveland, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery as he manned the bridge of his flagship, the USS Arizona, commanding his men as a bomb directly hit the bridge, killing him and others.

Kidd was the highest-ranking officer to be killed that morning. It would be 1,347 days before Americans could celebrate the end of the war, as parades rang out across the country. Ohio Gov. Frank J. Lausche declared Aug. 15 and 16 as days of thanksgiving and prayer, with uncertainty surrounding when the White House would declare V-J Day.

Clevelanders on those two days shut down everything from banks, department stores, retail establishments, public buildings and many restaurants, including the Rotary Club, which canceled its regular Thursday luncheon for the first time in 20 years. 

Open restaurants saw long lines and even locked their doors due to being at max capacity. Cuyahoga County had its plan for its official V-J Day parade prepped for whenever President Harry Truman would call it. 

It wasn’t until Sept. 2 that Truman declared the war over. However, Cleveland would go on to wait almost a month since Japan’s surrender before officially marching on Sept. 11. More than 300,000 Clevelanders would watch the three-hour parade, which headlined Gov. Lausche, Sen. Harold Burton, and Lorain native and second-most senior officer in the U.S. Navy during the war, Fleet Admiral Ernest J King.

“It’s the best (parade) I’ve ever seen,” King told The Plain Dealer.

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