We have caught these Angelenos on a very big news day. As they’re waiting for the bus at the corner of Hollywood Blvd and Highland Ave, they’re absorbed in reading about the D-Day invasion in Europe during WWII. D-Day took place on June 6, 1944 so I’m guessing the photographer snapped them on the 7th. Maybe this the moment these people first felt hope that there might be an end to the war. (Source: womansdays.com)
Rob B. said: “I have the LA Times edition with the INVASION headline dated 6 June ’44. Remember, the invasion occurred in Europe, many hours earlier, and the “Extra!” edition was on the streets of LA by mid-afternoon.”
Rob D. said: “Its entirely possible that the photo is from June 6. The first official announcement of the invasion, Allied Expeditionary Force Communique One, was issued in London at a little after 9:30AM local time. The UK was on British Double Summer Time (+2 hours) during the war, the US was on War Time (year round +1 hour daylight savings time), so I think 9:30AM in London would have been 12:30AM in Los Angeles. Every newspaper in LA would have rushed out extra editions immediately. If you want to know how Americans heard the invasion news on June 6, the entire broadcast day of June 6, 1944 for CBS and NBC was recorded and has survived. Its available for free on archive.org and is fascinating listening. To me the most interesting aspect of those broadcasts is that the US news organizations got the first hints that something was happening from the German foreign language radio service. In the early hours of D-Day the Germans were surprisingly honest in their reports.”
Thanks, Martin. Coming from a family of decorated vets, that pix hits home.
A striking photo. Funny thing is, had a similar photo been taken at that same bus stop today, all those folks would be gawking at their cell phones! Rarely see anyone reading newspapers today. I still do an enjoy it. There’s always a ton of newspapers at Ralphs. Like they give them away!!!!!
I like photos like this. I wonder what it would be like and how I would’ve reacted or such. Right down the street on Cahuenga from where they’re sitting is the Hollywood USO Club (not to be confused with the Canteen) where I’m sure all military guys were glued to the news.
On the 50th Anniversary of D-Day at the Academy’s Goldwyn Theatre in 1994, they had a program about it and used scenes from movies to capture how the war was portrayed throughout. One guest was Robert Stack who talked about the “Battle of Los Angeles” when people were panicked and thought Japan was attacking. There was also an elderly L.A. man who had been in the D-Day invasion. Bob Hope was the M.C.! He talked about being in Hollywood and what that was like. He was to do his radio program the night of June 6, 1944, The Pepsodent Show, which was the final episode of their 6th season. He did it at the airfield in Van Nuys with an audience of military men. They changed the lyrics to his famous theme song that night: “Thanks for the memory | Of D-Day over there | On land, on sea, in air | Our boys tonight defending right of freedom everywhere | And we thank them so much.”
Martin, the photo above could have been on June 6. In looking up those altered lyrics for Hope’s show that night, I read this: “D-Day commenced in the early hours of the morning in Normandy, but on California time the news broke late the “previous” night. A search says, “On June 5, 1944, when news of D-Day broke in Los Angeles, it was almost 10 PM Pacific Time.”