On September 1st, 1945, President Harry Truman proclaimed the first Victory Over Japan Day Celebration, describing it as "...a day which we Americans shall always remember as a day of retribution—as we remember that other day, the day of infamy.” In 2012, Rhode Island remains the only state in the union that still commemorates the end of one of the most brutal wars in world history. As long as we have a single survivor of the Pacific Theater alive in our state, we will continue to commemorate this day. Most around the nation don't understand why we still celebrate it. Rhode Island, however, provided a greater percentage of the population to the war in the Pacific Theater than any other state in the union. We are dedicated to remembering the atrocities committed by Japan from the start of their war with China through their unconditional surrender on August 14-15, 1945. While almost everyone remembers the Holocaust and the numbers killed by Nazi Germany, few note that the Japanese Imperial Army killed upwards of 20 million people with some estimates as high as 32.5 million. To date, Japan has issued little more than "regret" for hostilities in the 2nd World War, something which still angers those that remember the atrocities. (Rhode Island still has survivors of the Bataan Death March.) So yes, we still commemorate this day. We also wonder why the other 49 states have chosen to forget what so many Americans gave their lives to secure.
Post processing started with a photo pop filter in Topaz Adjust, followed by the typical b&w conversion. I used a gradient map in color blend mode, then adjusted levels, and also adjusted brightness and contrast. I used a sepia photo filter as the top layer.
