Crowds of people celebrated around the world. In Paris, American soldiers read the news in a French newspaper.

V–J day in Times Square, a photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt, was published in Life in 1945 with the caption, “In New York’s Times Square a white-clad girl clutches her purse and skirt as an uninhibited sailor plants his lips squarely on hers”.

Happy V-J Day, Tumblr!

The New Lost Generation
When the war is over, when the troops are finally home and reunited with their families, when the dead have been buried and the wounded cared for — then comes the reckoning. Sometimes it happens quickly, with the terrible cost of war weighed against the tyrants silenced, rebellions crushed, or populations rescued. Sometimes the reckoning takes longer, after the parades are over, flags furled and cased, subjects quietly changed. But no matter the form, the reckoning always comes. And after Washington’s current military campaigns, it will be a heavy one indeed. Nine years, more than $1 trillion, at least 5,600 dead and 43,000 wounded. These are the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts — the ones we can tally.

Less visible, but no less important, is that these wars are creating a new version of what writer Gertrude Stein called une génération perdue, a lost generation, analogous to the shellshocked men who returned home after the horrors of World War I. Many soldiers coming home today have struggled to reintegrate into civilian society, their mental wounds running deeper than any bone or flesh cuts ever could. And the country and the military will be changed by their return.

Source.

U.S. SPC Henry Rosenquist of 2-12 Infantry 4BCT-4ID Task Force Mountain Warrior sits in the computer room in Honaker Miracle camp at the Pesh valley of Kunar Province August 13, 2009.

IN THE WEEDS: Canadian army Cpl. Ryan Belgrave walked through a field of marijuana while on patrol near Salavat, Afghanistan, Wednesday. (Bob Strong/Reuters)

Flower Power
US soldiers of the 101st Airborne Devision laugh at the yellow flowers they attached to their helmets during a joint patrol with National Security Forces in the Arghandab Valley of Kandahar. 

ARMS UP: Former Russian paratroopers arm-wrestled during annual Paratroopers Day celebrations in St. Petersburg Monday. (Lesya Polyakova/European Pressphoto Agency)

TOP GUN: Air Force Staff Sgt. Asher Woodhouse scanned for threats from a helicopter above Kandahar province, Afghanistan, Monday. (Brennan Linsley/Associated Press)

US marines take cover as they come under fire during a firefight in Garmsir, southern Helmand.