INDEPENDENCE DAY 1946 – A Peacetime Fourth of July

 Summer celebrations of freedom are on my mind.  I am writing this article on the official day of Louisiana’s Juneteenth commemoration of Emancipation Day. When this column runs it will be preceding the Fourth of July long weekend. My summer vacation is around the corner. Yet I don’t think my sense of anticipation for these holidays can match what it was in late June of 1946, prior to the first Independence Day celebration since the end of WWII.  In the local newspapers seventy-six years ago, it is clear this holiday was top-of-mind for folks ready to celebrate the first peacetime Fourth of July in five years. 

First, a public service editorial was published in the “Bossier Banner-Progress,” entitled, “Be Alive on the Fifth:” 

“Fireworks instead of big guns will be heard on the Fourth of July. For the first time in five years, America will be at peace on the day dedicated to her independence--an independence just reaffirmed and strengthened in the costliest and bloodiest test in her history. It should be a great day. It can be a great day – if it is a day of sane and joyful thanksgiving that the courage and resolution of the United States have once again kept her free from tyranny.” 

The column warns that historically, the Fourth of July has also been a tragic day when hundreds of citizens have died of careless accidents and that if a recent trend holds, this year could be the worst: “Peace brought an end to the killing only on the battlefield. Since V-J Day (Victory in Japan Day, September 2, 1945) the accident toll has skyrocketed to near record highs. Why? “Plenty of gas, more leisure, release from restraint and restrictions. No wartime patriotic urge. A long-deferred desire to blow off stream with a little fun and relaxation.” Add to that, “worn-out cars and tires, deteriorated highways, a carefree sprit that too often becomes a careless spirt, and you have a dark prospect for this Fourth of July and the entire vacation season.” 

One can hope that the young Boy Scouts of the region and their leaders were given similar admonitions to take care.  With fireworks plentiful again, the scouts at Camp Caddo staged a fireworks dramatization of the Battle of Fort McHenry and the bombardment of the fort by the British, the event that inspired Frances Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner.” “The Planters Press” newspaper of Bossier City reported that family and friends from surrounding parishes as well as visitors from the general public were treated to this spectacle: “A water-borne fortress was stormed by a fleet of 22 canoes and rowboats shooting skyrockets, Roman candles and torpedoes,” accompanied by the grandeur of patriotic music. 

The newspapers showed more somber vestiges of the recently-ended war, too. The Bossier Banner-Progress of July 4th ran an illustration from the U.S. Treasury Department of Uncle Sam, in his star- spangled top hat, looking up to the sky at fireworks that spelled out in their smoke, “KEEP PEACE-BUY BONDS.” The caption says, 

“This year’s Independence Day is a wonderful contrast for you against the Fourth of Julys of the past few years. Tonight, you may be seeing peaceful fireworks blazing over your American home town. No more appropriate message could be burned against the July 4, 1946 sky than the one I am looking at in Los Angeles this moment…You are insuring your own independence by investing regularly in these same bonds.” 

Some “fireworks” of another kind were recorded by the Planters Press with the headline, “Bossier Boy Does Fine Job in Japan.” In occupied Japan Pfs. Herbert Gibson of Bossier City and his fellow members of the 675th Glider Field Artillery Battalion journeyed to Sendai, Japan to fire a 48-round salute in observance of Independence Day. Pvt. Gibson loaded the 105 mm Howitzer which fired 12 rounds at an interval of 12 seconds. Pvt. Gibson had been in the Army since April, 1945, and overseas since October.

If you have any information, stories, or photos about Fourth of July traditions in Bossier Parish or about Pfs. Herbert Gibson (son of Mr. and Mrs. A.H Gibson of Barksdale Blvd, Bossier City), we would love to add to our History Center’s research collection. Contact us at 318-746-7717 or email history-center@bossierlibrary.org or visit us at 2206 Beckett St., Bossier City. We are now open: M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. For other intriguing facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB, @bplhistorycenter on TikTok,

Photo: U.S. Treasury Department announcement, “Keep Peace – Buy Bonds” from the “Bossier Banner-Progress,” 4 July 1946

Article by: Pam Carlisle