VJ Day, August 14, 1945, by Betty Roberts

From MemoryArchive

Who: Betty Roberts
What: VJ Day
When: August 14, 1945
Where: Waukegan, IL

I was in the Cadet Nurse Corps, a federal program to train nurses for military service. I trained at Jane McAlister School of Nursing at Vistory Memorial Hospital in Waukegan, IL. On August 14, 1945, VJ Day, I went to downtown Waukegan, immediately North of Great Lakes Naval Training Center. The streets were jammed with cheering crowds. My clear recollections of that evening were first being grabbed and hugged and kissed by a jubilant sailor and having a fleeting regret that I would now never be able to be part of the military service I had trained for.