Seventy-four years ago today residents of Kingstree, as well as citizens of countries all around the world, waited impatiently for the news they had been expecting for almost a week–news that Imperial Japan had agreed to an unconditional surrender, bringing to an end the three-years, eight-months and seven-days of war between the United States and Japan. At 7 p.m., Tuesday, August 14, President Harry Truman addressed the nation with the news that Japan would sign the surrender on September 2. And while Truman warned that the official celebration of V-J Day should wait until after the signing, Americans all across the United States could not contain their glee.
Kingstree residents gathered at Williamsburg Presbyterian Church at 8 p.m. August 14, 1945,
to give thanks that World War II was finally over.
Williamsburg County: A Pictorial History
Kingstree residents were no different. According to The County Record, shortly after the President finished addressing the nation, residents of Kingstree made their way to Williamsburg Presbyterian Church, where at 8:15, the Rev. C.L. Woodard of Kingstree Methodist Church conducted a service. The church was filled to capacity. Following the service, impromptu celebrations and informal parades went on for many hours. All businesses in Kingstree, with the exception of the bank and the tobacco market, closed the next day to continue to savor the Allies' victory.
One Kingstree resident, who over the past 18 months had become known as "Uncle Bill" for his letters in The County Record called "To Our Boys in the Service," took a few minutes to pen this: Dear Boys: This is Tuesday night, August 14th, and we have just finished celebrating. We are all so happy and proud and we want you to know that we will always be thinking of you. Uncle Bill.
Bill Bryan had taken it upon himself, as part of his "war work," to write these letters to the Williamsburg County boys who were in the service. In them, he gave those who were able to get and read the newspaper a taste of what was happening on the home front, as well as keeping them informed of where their friends and neighbors were stationed. The servicemen, and a few servicewomen, wrote to him as well, often sending him mementoes from their various stations and ports of call.
Bill Bryan, right, shakes hands with Guy Lombardo in June, 1941,
during the Pre-Harvest Jubilee.
Williamsburg County: A Pictorial History
He often wrote his letters on Sunday nights, and on the following Sunday he wrote: "Dear Boys: Today, about 150 Sundays ago, the Japanese struck us at Pearl Harbor. But this Sunday it's a different story. Instead, they are begging for mercy, and we all feel that very little mercy is all we care to spare at this time. Boys, the old town really celebrated on V-J day, but the big day will really come a little later on when we have most of the boys back home. But I'll tell you, it's hard for us at home to celebrate when we think of our loved ones and friends who won't come back. I can't tell you how deep it hurts when we think of those real heroes (Our boys are the finest on earth.). And I hope and pray that their names will always be deeply imbedded in our hearts."
The WWII Memorial on the grounds of the Williamsburg County Courthouse
listing the names of county citizens who lost their lives during the war.
A few months earlier, on May 6, another Sunday night, he wrote, "Dear Boys: This letter is kinda hard to write tonight. Most of us have our radios on, waiting for the news flash saying the war is over in Germany, and I feel that by the time this letter goes to press Wednesday, the war will be over in Europe. Boys, there isn't enough writing paper in Williamsburg County for me to write how proud we are of you. There is no way on earth for us to tell you how it makes us feel to know the war in Germany is over. The best way to put it is: We folks at home smile for joy, with tears in our eyes, if you know what I mean, and I know you do."
He went on in that letter to mention some of the servicemen he had heard from, and then while mentioning Sgt. Dessie O'Bryan who was in France, he wrote, "Dessie, it is now about 1:30 o'clock, Monday a.m., and the news from over there is getting better every minute. I just hope that by morning it will be over, over there, again, and this time for keeps. And for your information, I still have those big plates that can hold a big red breast and a double helping of hominy, so keep that in mind."
A few sentences later, he added, "Fellows, I just heard another news report, and it looks like you're going to finish up over there before I can finish this letter. In fact, it gets me off the track, every once and awhile."
There followed a few paragraphs noting that Pvt. Sinnott McCrea had been wounded on Luzon, that Britton Watson with the 7th Infantry had written, saying that when The County Record didn't catch up with him for a few weeks, he got mighty homesick for Kingstree, and that Ed Mishoe, stationed in Asheville, NC, was home for a few days. This was followed by a paragraph added on Monday, at two in the afternoon. "Well, from what the radio says, it's really over in Germany, and an official announcement will be made tomorrow at 3 p.m. And to you boys in the Pacific, we want you to know that we are thinking of you constantly and hope the war over there will soon end. We think it will. You know, fellows, last night when I started this letter, I had a feeling that the war in Europe would end before I finished writing, and, by gosh, it did! Today is the happiest day I have had since I wrote my first letter to you 18 months ago. I only hope that it made you feel a little nearer home in those horrible days of fighting. My only regret is that we all here at home couldn't do more. I appreciated every letter from you. They are among my most cherished possessions, and I hope to keep each one of them as long as I live. ... So, I say to you heroes from Williamsburg, we will always be thinking of you when you think of us. Your Friend, Uncle Bill.
Ed Welch and Thomas McCabe on Okinawa in 1945.
They both returned to serve the community, one as the president of
Kingstree Federal Savings & Loan and the other as a dentist.
Williamsburg County: A Pictorial History
And, so, on this 74th anniversary of V-J Day, it seems fitting to take a moment to remember those who served our country during World War II, as well as those who continue to serve it today. And let's give a special salute to "Uncle Bill" Bryan, for without his taking the time to write about those events, we would not have these letters which give us such a feeling of the immediacy of the moment. In our modern world of instant communication, it's easy to forget how important it is to preserve, in writing, moments of our history for those who follow us to read in the future.
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