Īccording to WPRI-TV, Rhode Island has had debates over whether to retain the state holiday, with opponents citing Japan's growing "economic might" in the 1980s and offense to Japanese Americans, but all efforts to remove or rename the holiday have been defeated by " veterans and traditionalists," as well as labor unions. Initially observed on August 14, the Rhode Island General Assembly enacted legislation in 1966 to observe the holiday on the second Monday in August annually. Rhode Island has observed this day since 1948. In 1975, the holiday was abolished at the Arkansas state level leaving Rhode Island as the only state in the U.S. President Truman's announcement of the surrender started mass celebrations across the United States, which was when he declared September 2 as the official "VJ Day" in 1945. The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9, and the Soviet Union's invasion of Manchuria in the previous week led to the eventual surrender. Victory Day has commemorated the anniversary of Japan's surrender to the Allies in 1945 which ended World War II. Scene made famous by Life magazine photograph (And yes, the official legal name of the holiday in Rhode Island is Victory Day, not V-J Day, despite what many residents think.) Experts say Rhode Island has been on. In 2015, the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama honored 500 veterans on the 70th anniversary of the end of the war. It has become an annual event - the military parade in Red Square in Moscow and cities across Russia on 9 May, marking victory over Nazi Germany in 1945. Monday is the 68th annual Victory Day in Rhode Island, making the state still the only one to observe a legal holiday marking Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II. More than one in ten of the states' residents served in the war, and 2,340 (671 Navy or Marines) were killed. Rhode Island retains the date as a formal state holiday in tribute to the number of sailors it sent and lost in the Pacific front. The holiday celebrates the conclusion of World War II and is related to Victory over Japan Day in the United Kingdom and regions of the United States. Furthermore, in 2017, WPRI-TV claimed that Arkansas (which stopped celebrating the day in 1975) and Rhode Island were the only two states to ever celebrate the holiday, though Arkansas's name for the holiday was "World War II Memorial Day." Victory Day is a holiday observed in the United States state of Rhode Island with state offices closed on the second Monday of August. (1) Second Monday in August (Rhode Island and US Space & Rocket Center) (1) Rhode Island state holiday, state offices closed Victory Over Japan Day, VJ Day, World War II Memorial Day ( Arkansas) The upcoming United States holiday Victory Day is in 149 days from today. It's now observed every second Monday in August.Ĭomment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.Crowds celebrating V-J Day in Times Square Rhode Island made Victory Day an official state holiday in 1948. The Providence Journal reports that some downtown Providence shops are taking part in a campaign called #RenameVictoryDay and have signs in their windows suggesting the holiday be called “Mayor’s Bay Day,” “Lobster Roll Day,” or “Surf and Sand Day." An online petition launched last month suggests changing the name to something more inclusive such as “Celebrate Rhode Day.” Over the years, there have been unsuccessful efforts by state leaders to discontinue or rename the holiday amid concerns that the day, which is sometimes referred to as “V-J Day” or “Victory Over Japan Day,” carries negative connotations, WPRI-TV reports.īut amid the national reckoning on racism, those calls have been renewed. dropped atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing hundreds of thousands. The state is the only one in the nation that still observes the holiday, which commemorates Japan's surrender ending World War II in August 1945. Rhode Islanders are renewing the push to change the state's unique but controversial Victory Day holiday, which is being observed Monday.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |