A Complex Relationship: Rhode Island and WWII in 2022
Now, only seven years after the 70th anniversary of WWII ending and fifteen years after the WWII Monument’s creation, it is difficult to discern just how much of an impact the structure has left on the city and its people. As mentioned previously, not many publications exist that reference the monument. In October 2019, WaterFire, a Providence tradition in which residents and tourists gather by the river to watch the lighting of lanterns, held a Salute to Veterans Lighting. This involved illuminating the WWII Memorial and other war memorials along the river with candles.¹ This memorial is entirely unrelated to WaterFire as an event. The article describes Memorial Park as a space that “pays homage to Rhode Islanders who gave their lives during wars and conflicts around the world,” an odd choice of words considering that the park includes the Holocaust Memorial. Such an event, thus, feels performative at best and exploitative at worst.
Whether because of the WWII Monument or otherwise, however, there seems to remain a distinctly present veteran culture in Providence. Many places and people across the U.S. celebrate the end of WWII in Europe in May 1945, marked by the surrender of Germany. Rhode Island remains the only state that still commemorates August 14th, the day Japan surrendered after the bombing of Nagasaki. Rhode Island has stood apart since 1975 when Arkansas elected to remove the day from its legal list of state holidays. Rhode Island first implemented V-J, or Victory in Japan, Day in March 1948, but veterans’ groups in the state had advocated for one as early as 1946. The Cranston Herald even ran a piece in its August 14, 1948, edition about the first V-J Day program to run in Cranston, held in Cranston Stadium. In the 1950s, the New York Times wrote that V-J Day was “always a big legal holiday in Rhode Island.”² [include photo of Cranston_Herald, which the Nesi source describes as "An article in the Cranston Herald edition of Aug. 14, 1948, notes the first annual Victory Day. (credit: Cranston Public Library)"]
As of 2022, Rhode Island continues to celebrate V-J Day, at least from a state legislative perspective. On Memorial Day of 2022, someone placed a wreath on the WWII Memorial. At the time of writing this, in November 2022, it still hangs there. This past Veterans Day (also the fifteenth anniversary of the WWII Memorial dedication) featured various festivities in Providence surrounding veterans and military service, including programming on Brown’s campus. The newness of this memorial complicates its presentation and reception: it features quotes from various timeframes and plays into the strange relationship between Rhode Island and WWII. Ultimately, despite these complexities, the WWII Memorial was contrived by and for those who wanted to heal from and commemorate the service of Rhode Islanders.
1. Laura Duclos, “War Memorials Will Shine Bright for WaterFire Salute to Veterans,” The Latest News, WaterFire Providence, October 31, 2019, https://waterfire.org/memorialpark/.
2. Ted Nesi, “Why only one US state celebrates Victory Day,” The Hill, August 8, 2022, https://thehill.com/homenews/wire/3593337-why-only-one-us-state-celebrates-victory-day/#:~:text=Rhode%20Island%20\was%20always%20an,Arkansas%20celebrates%20t