World War II actually started with a bang for the United States when the Japanese attacked our fleet at Pearl Harbor in 1941. The hot winds of war were propelling us down the path of mobilization at warp speed.

The war became pervasive in our lives. When the men were called to war, our steadfast women and even we teenagers took over the jobs necessary to keep our country going and support war production. We endured rationing of such things as gasoline, meat, shoes and sugar.

We gathered nightly by the radio and saw and read about the horrors of war at the movie theater and in the Citizen-Times as we felt the pain of loss of life and limb by our brave troops. America was unified as never before or since.

After the fall of Germany in May 1945, we were told that it could take three years to conquer the tenacious Japanese army on their home soil. But then we dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The war also ended with a bang. The Japanese immediately surrendered, and we celebrated V-J Day on Aug. 14, 1945.

V-J Day was such a thrilling day. My friends and I went downtown to join thousands of Ashevilleans who gathered around a huge granite monument that used to be on Pack Square and spread down Patton Avenue and filled Court Plaza. The crowd danced and cheered and wept. Music was blaring, and people were dancing in the street. I couldn’t catch my breath as I got caught up in the celebration. We were told we were going to now live in world peace, which was a concept that I had trouble understanding since I had only known war my entire teen life.

Even as my friends and I skipped and frolicked on our way home that night, I knew that this was to be one of the most special moments of my life.