WILLOW CREEK — The war is over.
At 7:00 PM on Tuesday, August 14, the news came crackling over the radio at the General Store: Japan had surrendered. The war that had consumed the world for nearly six years — and that had taken four of Willow Creek’s sons — was finished.
The town hall bell began to ring within minutes of the announcement, pulled by First Selectman Everett Croft himself, who had been waiting at the town hall for the news. The mill whistle, which had not blown outside of working hours since the First World War, sounded for a full minute — a long, sustained blast that carried across the Willow River valley and was heard by every family within three miles.
“The sound of that whistle was the sound of the world coming back into balance,” said Ezra Homan, who had worked at the mill throughout the war. “It was a sound I thought I would never hear again. And when it stopped, there was a silence that was different from the silence of the night.”
The Gazette printed a victory edition, rushed to press at midnight, with a banner headline spanning the full width of the page: “THE WAR IS OVER.” The edition includes photographs of all 42 Willow Creek residents who served in the war — every man and woman who went — including the four who did not return: Private First Class Leonard Dumont, killed in the Pacific in 1943; Sergeant Albert Cheney, killed in France in 1944; Corporal James Girard, killed in Germany in 1945; and Navy Seaman Raymond Thibodeau, lost at sea in 1944.
Their names are printed in a box on the front page, set apart from the news. They will not be forgotten.
The celebration on Main Street was subdued but heartfelt. The General Store stayed open until 10:00 PM, serving coffee and tea to anyone who wanted it. Maeve O’Donnell, now 25, tied a red, white, and blue ribbon around the store’s front door. The Congregational Church held an impromptu service of thanksgiving at 9:00 PM.
“Our sons are coming home,” Arthur Whitcomb writes in the victory edition. “Some of them. The ones who do not return — they are home too, in a deeper sense. They are part of this town, and this town will carry them forward. The war is over. The work of rebuilding begins now.”