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V-Day

“My little legs started running. I ran back to the ball park and I’m telling all these people, World War II is over! Japan has surrendered! And they said what are you talking about little kid? And the sirens—all the towns had sirens that would warn people if there’s any problems—the sirens came on and the announcement was made that Japan has surrendered. It was bedlam. As a little kid I can remember everybody was yelling and screaming and running around hugging each other.” – Jim Des Londes

 

Germany surrendered in May 1945, but fighting in the Pacific Theater continued into the summer. After the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan officially surrendered and WWII came to an end. The Canal was never attacked and shipping went uninterrupted thanks to the efforts of civilians and U.S. and Panamanian defenders.

This online exhibition is based on the exhibition of the same name that was presented at the University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries, March 7, 2020 - February 26, 2021.

Curated by Elizabeth A. Bouton with assistance from Elizabeth Bemis | Online design by Elizabeth A. Bouton

Student assistant curators: Summer Bias, Coral Dixon, Sean O’Dwyer, and Anna L. Weissman | Title design and other materials by Olivia Bowman

 

This exhibit was developed spring 2019 as part of the graduate Exhibitions Seminar in Museum Studies taught by Lourdes Santamaría-Wheeler. It was driven by student inquiry and has been an experiment in collaborative exhibition development processes.

 

Unless otherwise noted, all items are from the Panama Canal Museum Collection, Special & Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida.