On June 23, 1945, a crowd estimated at 150,000 turned out to observe the Evansville Day Parade, possibly the largest ever held in the city. Americans were jubilant that the war in Europe had just ended, and although there was still work to be done, Evansville took a day off to salute its own citizens who tirelessly contributed to the war effort.
About 13,000 local men and women had served in the armed forces, and on the home front, industries small and large had churned out war products at a phenomenal rate. This picture shows the crowd ducking in the 400 block of Main Street to avoid the wings of a P-47 Thunderbolt.
The last of nearly 7,000 P-47s built in Evansville by the Republic Aviation Corporation left the factory two months later.
