V for Victory, C for Change

History

September 2, 2025, marks the 80th anniversary of the official end of World War II. Aboard the USS Missouri, an American battleship in Tokyo Bay, Japanese representatives signed a written agreement to surrender. Their signatures were accepted by General Douglas MacArthur, under his title Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. The ceremony planned for the surrender was formal and symbolic: 250 ships from Allied nations surrounded the USS Missouri, and the proceedings concluded with a flyover by 800 American airplanes.

Today, September 2 is the day most often recognized as the end of World War II. For many in Coastal Georgia and around the world, though, the news broke weeks earlier. On the evening of August 14, 1945, President Truman received a surrender message from Japan. Its existence was announced to the American public within hours. Celebrations broke out across the country, according to Life magazine, “as if joy had been rationed and saved up for three years, eight months, and seven days since Sunday, December 7th, 1941.” Change, in Glynn County and across the globe, was soon to follow.

The J.A. Jones Shipyard’s last Liberty ship, the SS Patrick B. Whalen, had been launched on March 15, 1945. The shipyard still kept up production through the last days of the war, constructing 14 “knot ships,” smaller coastal or “island hopping” cargo ships. The last, the MS Coastal Ranger, was launched in August 1945 and officially completed in November. With the ship’s completion, the shipyard, a vital hub of activity in wartime Brunswick, shut down.

Naval Air Station (NAS) St. Simons was also preparing for a monumental shift. The August 25, 1945, edition of the station’s Tally-Ho newspaper noted the Japanese surrender—and how it would affect life on the island. Under a demobilization plan, the newspaper wrote, “327,000 Navy men and women” were eligible for immediate release, with up to two and a half million to follow in the eighteen months after the war’s end. The effects wouldn’t take long to reach NAS St. Simons. By early October, personnel were throwing farewell parties for men like Captain W.D. Thomas, who had served as Commanding Officer there since 1942.

This month’s featured images from the Coastal Georgia Historical Society include: the August 15, 1945, front page of the Brunswick News, announcing Japan’s surrender; the August 25, 1945, edition of Naval Air Station St. Simons’ Tally-Ho newspaper; and a photograph of the farewell party for Captain W.D. Thomas. Captain Thomas is on the right, pictured with Jack Daniel Lane and Jack Phillips.

The Coastal Georgia Historical Society presents this article and images from our archives as part of our mission “to connect people to Coastal Georgia’s dynamic history.” The Society operates the iconic St. Simons Lighthouse Museum and the World War II Home Front Museum, housed in the Historic Coast Guard Station at East Beach. To learn more about the Society, its museums, diverse programs, and membership, please visit coastalgeorgiahistory.org.