VE and VJ Day Celebrations in London (1945)

Amateur colour film shot by Lieutenant Sidney Sasson of the US Army Signal Corps, Army Pictorial Service, of victory celebrations in central London for VE Day (8 May 1945) and VJ Day (15 August 1945).
Taken from the Imperial War Museums catalogue notes:
People throwing paper and toilet rolls ("ticker-tape" style) from the open windows of the building housing 33 Davies Street. Crowds of people walking along Piccadilly. Crowds outside of Charing Cross railway station. Members of the US Army Signal Corps, Army Pictorial Service, standing on a Jeep filming in Trafalgar Square (Jeep front bumper painted with the designation UKB 3908 SIG PHOTO BN CO A5). A large number of people crowded around the base of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square. More scenes of crowds in Piccadilly and in Trafalgar Square. Two young women and two British Army soldiers paddle in the water in one of the fountains in Trafalgar Square. Car flying both the Union flag and the American flag attempting to drive through the crowds in Trafalgar Square. Further shots around the base of Nelson's Column. Brief shot of six planes flying overhead.London 15 August 1945, VJ Day. Women standing on the top of a high protective brick wall at the front of a large pillared building throwing paper in to the street ("ticker-tape" style). Shots of feet walking over the paper on the pavement. Civilian men and women and American servicemen dancing in a circle in the street. More women throwing paper in to the street, this time it appears to be actual ticker-tape. A small group of women doing the Conga (dance) in the street. Two American servicemen and three women pose for the camera. One of the American servicemen, a staff sergeant, kisses one of the women. Woman wearing a newspaper tucked in her waist belt (newspaper headline "Japan Surrenders") and making the "V" sign whilst standing in front of a traffic light in Piccadilly Circus. Brief, rather dark shots, of crowds waiting to cross a road. Two American servicemen (one a corporal) and two young women strike a jokey pose for the camera. Brief shot of a group of WRNS (?) riding on the top of a car. Advertisement for the film "Blood on the Sun" outside a cinema. Crowds milling about including many servicemen and a man in civilian dress who had lost his right hand. Man perched precariously up a lamp post in Piccadilly Circus. Group of American servicemen and civilian women marching along the road, singing, shouting and holding an American Flag.
Running time 5 mins
Original format: 16mm
Camera operator: Lt Sidney Sasson
The Film and Video Archive of the Imperial War Museum was established in 1920, making it one of the first film archives in the world. It holds some 120 million feet of film and 6,500 house of video tape. A large proportion of material has been transferred to the Museum from the armed Services and other public bodies as the Archive is the official repository for such public record films.
More information about this film can be found via the Film and Video section of the Imperial War Museums on-line catalogue:
www.iwmcollections.org.uk

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• World
• War

[packets1]

They all look so civil and good natured and mannered.

How very British.

[w0lf101]

I'd take 1945 London over 2010 London, much more civil back then.

[talara18]

@w0lf101 was an English city back then

[aeronuk1]

Winston Churchill was a Satanic freemason who believed in "the unity of nations" that's the real reason we have been flooded with third world foreigners since the end of WW2, to mingle everyone up and re-create the satanic tower of babel...Seriously we would probably have been better off if Hitler won the war.

[jotohomomoto]

can you imagine the ecstasy and joy they felt together

ALL the men and women look so beautiful, neatly dressed, hair done just right

[norristerse]

let's all stop using these films as an excuse to complain about immigrants, and concentrate on positive things, like the fact that we'd just clobbered hitler.

...and the magnificent gazonkas on that lady at 4:26

[cam9408]

Just look at how much nicer London looked in those days when there werent any immigrants! Today its nothing but a dumping ground for third world people and hardly a white person in site. ohh what i would give to live in those days!

[Knittingand]

My Mum was somewhere in the middle of these celebrations. She was 14 years old. She said the streets were full for three days and nights and no-one wanted the celebrations to stop :)

[magicmoonbeam2]

@rozza12320 I said the "average" black African had a low IQ; Therefore the existence of smart blacks in no way invalidates what I said or contradicts the IQ data, this is why we have the "achievement gap" in education in the United States & in every other western country, i.e only one black Caribbean student was admitted to Oxford university in 2010, Black Africans are vastly under represented in higher education & especially in the hard sciences in every western University, which is indicative

[rozza12320]

@magicmoonbeam2 *(continued) examples of intelligent black people for your theory to have any truth. poverty breeds lower iq's. lack of education forces people to evolve in a certain way. a subsaharan african may not be able to solve equations and solve problems of logic very well but then a white person wouldn't have the same capabilities for learning how to survive in the wild. its two different worlds. proof of this is the fact that the average iq of black people rises in richer area's!

[rozza12320]

@magicmoonbeam2 all i can say is, your a product of your environment. were all part of the human race and yes we have evolved differently depending on where we live but essentially were the same. i've never heard this study of brain size before and i don't believe it at all. i hear so much crap from biggots so i just take it with a pinch of salt. theirs thousands of blacks british people who are highly intelligent. many are docters, scientists, economists, actors, artists. theirs just to many