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Joe P.Back on VJ Day, I was 14 years old.
Every time that they show on TV the VJ celebration on Broadway and Times Square, it draws a great smile.
Not just because it was one of the most historical events of my young life, but more because it was a day not like all days, filled with those events that illuminate our times.
Visualize if you will, two young Latino teenagers from Spanish Harlem wanting to be part of this magnificent day. It was the American thing to do.
We took the Lexington Ave subway downtown to Times Square.
Folks, I've been to Times Square for the dropping of the ball during New Years Eve many a times.
You can put a couple of those together, and you wont come close to the mass of humanity that was there on VJ Day in 1945.
We were there during the day hours, and the party continued right on through the night.
Everybody loved everybody, and as me and my friend Ray noticed while we were moving through the crowd, we noticed that it was not only the men in uniform of all the branch of the armed forces, (very common in those days) but also civilians that were stopping dead in their tracks as they would glance at a damsel in front of them - in a split second embrace and kiss.
They were all strangers, and then they would move on to the next one.
Ray and I looked at each other, and without saying a word, we could read our thoughts - "What a country."
At that moment, two very young teenagers decided to move it up to another level.
Let's take on some older women of 18 and beyond.
We did, and we got away with it.
We hated to leave, but we had to get back to our turf and exercise our bragging rights.
We will now return you to the original program and the Waddell. 