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“Nazis Quit,” the bold headline proclaimed on May 7, 1945, telling readers of the Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch the war in Europe was over.
In another part of Luzerne County Community College’s Schulman Gallery, Gen. Douglas MacArthur is shown on the deck of the USS Missouri on Sept. 2, 1945, signing the agreement in which Japan surrendered, ending the war in the Pacific.
If that vintage newspaper and black-and-white photo in the “World War II: Never Forget” exhibit don’t give you a sense of the joy and relief people must have felt when the hostilities were finally over, surely Alfred Eisenstaedt’s famous picture of the sailor dramatically kissing the woman in the white dress on V-J Day will bring it home.
Photographs, newspapers, and several pieces of commemorative artwork are all part of the private collection of George R. Shadie and Alex G. Shadie, which will be on exhibit at the Schulman Gallery today through Dec. 20. The Shadies plan to attend the opening reception, set for 6 to 8 tonight, and they will be happy to share some history.
Here you can learn about American fighter pilot William Overstreet Jr., who maneuvered his plane underneath the arches of the Eiffel Tower as he chased a German Messerschmitt through Paris.
You can ponder the fate of hundreds of men from the USS Indianapolis, struggling to survive shark-infested water after their ship was torpedoed.
You can read about Hall of Famer Ted Williams, who interrupted his baseball career for military service, and about John Glenn, a skillful World War II pilot long before he became an astronaut.
For George R. Shadie, his personal war heroes included his dad, George A. Shadie, and uncles Michael Najduch, Paul Najduch and Emory Shady.
“My dad brought home a Japanese helmet and rifle,” Shadie said, recalling how he grew up in Swoyersville, idolizing the veterans for their courage and service.
A financial consultant who lives in Drums, Shadie has been collecting World War II artwork for more than 40 years. He especially admires fighter pilots and, during a recent interview, pointed out commemorative artwork such as “Sayonara Sally” by Stan Stokes, which pays tribute to the Flying Tigers in their P40 Warhawks who protected Rangoon, Burma from a Japanese raid by Ki-21 “Sally” bombers.
Another commemorative print, “Outrun the Eagles,” was originally painted in oil by Gareth Hector to depict legendary German pilot Franz Stigler in his Messerschmitt 262 “White 3” escaping from American P-52 Mustangs as he flies over farmland in April 1945.
Shadie likes a story from earlier in Stigler’s career, when the German had a chance to shoot down a B-17 bomber piloted by American Charles Brown. Realizing how extensively damaged the B-17 was, Stigler didn’t fire on it but instead escorted it to England’s North Sea Coast on Dec. 20, 1943.
“He could have been court martialed” if his superiors learned of the incident, Shadie said. But Stigler kept it a secret.
Years later, Brown found the pilot who had spared him, who by then was living in Canada, and the two veterans became close friends.
Shadie also admires the crew of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and is glad to have a piece of artwork that contains signatures of the pilot and crew. “If not for them,” he said, “World War II would likely have lasted longer … One of my uncles might not have come home.”
