Ottawa celebrates victory in Europe

To mark our 175th anniversary year, we feature a different front page each week from past Ottawa Citizens. Today: May 8, 1945

A “tidal wave of rejoicing” swept across Canada and the world, at the news on Monday, May 7, 1945, that Germany had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, ending nearly six years of war in Europe.

Across the country, “(p)eople went slightly mad, filled the streets with teeming paper, marched arm in arm, blew horns, kissed people they had never seen before,” according to the Citizen’s front page the following day, V-E Day.

In Ottawa, the red ensign, the flag under which Canadian troops fought in Europe, was hoisted over Parliament Hill, while the $64 question, according to the Citizen, was where the city’s thousands of roomers, including service men and women, as well as civil servants and “just ordinary citizens,” could get a meal, after the city’s restaurants closed following acting prime minister James Isley’s announcement of a national holiday to celebrate.

“Long-time residents of Ottawa had to search their memories to find a comparable event that had touched off such enthusiasm and festivity,” the Citizen reported. “Never in their memory had they witnessed such a shower of ticker tape and confetti from uptown office buildings.”

Thousands of people paraded along Sparks Street, the sidewalks of which were ankle-deep in paper by noon.

Beverage rooms filled, while crowds waited four-deep outside liquor stores.

Wellington Street resident Mrs. John Graham, whose two brothers were both prisoners of war, jubilantly predicted their return home.

Schools were dismissed for the day, and numerous youths gathered at the War Memorial, shouting and cheering, and one played the trumpet while riding his bicycle. Overhead, an RCAF plane dropped streams of paper on the revellers, while above even that, “(t)he sun, shrouded for so many days behind a cloak of rain-soaked clouds, smiled brightly upon the scene below as if aware of the importance of this 7th day of May, 1945.” bdeachman@postmedia.com