William Banks

The night of August 14, 1945 saw over 10,000 people crowd downtown Baltimore, Liberty, Centre, and Mechanic Streets in celebration of Japan's surrender which marked the end of World War II. The celebration, which consisted of parades, flag-waving, church bells, horns, whistles, laughter, tears, horse-play, dancing, kissing, and what one would normally expect of an event of this type lasted from early evening until 3:00 am in the morning. No drunken arrests or vandalism were reported during the V-J event.

William Banks, a World War II veteran and Pine Avenue (Cumberland) resident, was depicted in the paper "while taking it easy" on a Baltimore Street curb. Like many other men that night, William had, "a bottle in one hand and a cigar in the other" and "was really at peace with the world."