The San Francisco V-J Day Peace Riots: Celebration Turned Deadly, August 13-15, 1945

In mid-August 1945, World War II came to an end with the surrender of Japan. People throughout the world celebrated, pouring into the streets in spontaneous celebrations. But something went wrong in San Francisco. Thousands of young sailors, new recruits from nearby training bases, flooded downtown Market Street and celebrated with abandon. What began as good clean fun with dancing, kissing, and parading down the avenue soon took an ugly turn. For three consecutive nights, thousands of sailors and young civilian men and women, rioted in the streets, shattering over a hundred huge plate glass windows, looting liquor, tobacco, and clothing stores, overturning automobiles, starting bonfires in the streets, and even damaging the famed San Francisco trolley cars. By the end of the third night, after a phalanx of civilian and military police officers had forcefully cleared the streets, more than 1,000 people had been injured, at least six women had been raped, and thirteen people were dead. Both San Francisco and military authorities vowed to determine who was responsible for the three nights of rioting. Amid a flurry of "passing the buck," the San Francisco district attorney and a grand jury began investigating the "VJ Day Peace Riots" but would anybody be held responsible for a riot that San Francisco authorities hoped the whole world would simply forget? This book presents the entire history of the riots that shook San Francisco.