Page 42 - August 2015 Life In Naples Magazine
P. 42
by Lois Bolin PARTIAL
Old Naples Historian
PAYMENT
F lorida will reach a historical milestone FOR A DEBT INCURRED 70 YEARS AGO
this August, along with the rest of our
nation, sparking the memory of a debt
we had always heard we could never repay.
August 14, 1945, President Harry Truman
announced that Japan had surrendered
unconditionally, effectively ending World War
II. Both August 14 and August 15 have been
known as “Victory over Japan Day” (V-J Day) as
well as September 2, 1945, when Japan’s formal
surrender took place aboard the battle-weary
U.S.S. Missouri.
The United States’ efforts during World War II
drew heavily on Florida’s strategic positioning, its
people, and its resources. Over 250,000 Floridians
REG BUXTON, GEN. CARR, MAYOR SOREY, JIN VONRINTEIN , REP. MATT HUDSON
LOIS BOLIN WITH DAVID PRODGER volunteered or were drafted into the armed forces. Thousands flooded Florida to
PHOTO(S) COURTESY OF KENA YOKE support the 170 plus military bases and training sites.
After the war ended, a grateful country began welcoming home liberty’s heroes.
Floridians left their farms and towns as young men and women and returned as
seasoned citizens. Those who came to Florida to train left with the memories
of a paradise - a place they would someday call home. Seven decades later, this
generation’s economic legacy for Florida can be viewed from the vantage point of
the millions of WWII veterans who chose Florida as their new home. Today, our
WWII heroes amount to less than 248,000.
Ronald Reagan said that we should be strengthened by our Greatest Generation’s
courage and heartened by their valor so let us stand for the ideals for which they
lived and died. While we have heard we can never repay this debt, perhaps the
most significant way we could is to stand for those principles. Yet, those very ideals,
which once commanded great loyalty, are in danger of being taken for granted or
worse – forgotten.
A small victory for this legacy occurred this past March when the House of
Representatives passed “The Victory Florida Year”resolution to honor these sentinels
of liberty by promoting Florida’s role in WWII. I am proud to have been the initiator
of this resolution and the 2013 “Spirit of 45” Florida Legislative resolution, which
followed the 2010 U.S. Congressional resolution to make the 2nd Sunday in August
the official day to remember the ending of WWII and the legacy of a generation who
defeated the greatest tyranny the world had ever known.
42 Life in Naples | August • September • October 2015
