"On A Note Of Triumph" was broadcast on the evening of Victory in Europe (VE)day ... May 8, 1945 when World War II in Europe came to an end. It was a radio celebration of the Allied victory in Europe. Norman Corwin wrote and directed the program that had performers in New York City and Los Angeles... the CBS broadcast was live. It is acclaimed by many critics to be one of the greatest radio programs ever written. It spoke to the common men and women who won the victory and achieved the triumph. "Take a bow, G.I. Take a bow, little guy. The superman of tomorrow lies at the feet of you common men this afternoon. This is it, kid! This is the day," the announcer exclaims.
But there was also a heartbreaking moment in the broadcast that still sounds cruel in its honesty. Two radio actors wonder aloud if they should knock on the door of neighbors who lost their sons in the conflict. Should they include them in their celebration or would it be wiser to leave them alone? Corwin understood that there were Americans from Maine to California who were dealing with the same question at that very moment. There were more than 350,000 families who experienced this news as bittersweet. Norman Corwin was a genius. I had the distinct honor to interview him in 2005... he passed away on Oct. 18, 2011 at the age of 101. This piece has relevance even today though wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan have not had a clean and victorious ending, like the one experienced in WW II. But even in the global conflict of the 1940's, clean endings did not come without a great price... and that price is still being paid by young men and women today.
