Ed Kennedy's War: V-E Day, Censorship, and the Associated Press

Image Plates

Kennedy in British army’s desert uniform, Cairo, 1940. Kennedy visiting the Acropolis, Athens, 1941. Kennedy saluting, Crete, 1941. Kennedy in Napoleonic pose, Crete, 1941. Kennedy (right) and Jack Hetherington of the Melbourne Herald during bombing in Crete, 1941. Kennedy (left) and Geroge Laycock on the porch of the Tiberias Hotel, Tiberias, Palestine, June, 1941. Kennedy and unidentified AP staffer react to bombing at Anzio beachhead, February, 1944. Kennedy at Anzio, Italy, 1944. Participants in the signing of the German surrender, May 7, 1945, at Reims, France. The Germans are seen at one side of the table, backs turned. Seated at the other side, left to right, are British Lt. Gen. Sir Frederick E. Morgan, French Gen. Francois Sevez, British Adm. Harold M. Burrough, U.S. Lt. Gen. Walter Bedell Smith, presiding; Russian Gen. Ivan Susloparov (in the act of signing), Lt. Gen. Carl A. Spaatz, Air Commander-in-Chief, and Air Marshal J. K. Robb. At the end of the table are British Maj. Gen. H. R. Bull and a Russian interpreter, Susloparov’s aide. Lt. Gen. Ivan Chermiaff, sits behind the interpreter. Kennedy’s ID card for British forces in the Mediterranean, 1942. Three German principals sign the surrender. Left to right: Maj. Gen. Wilhelm Oxenius, Col. Gen. Gustaf Jodl, and Gen. Adm. Hans von Friedeburg. Behind them can be seen the war correspondents who witnessed the event. Kennedy (with glasses) peers over the shoulders of two correspondents holding papers. These are flashes and bulletins from a larger series signaling the surrender of Germany and the end of the war in Europe on May 7, 1945, which unfolded swiftly. An hour and 36 minutes elapsed between the first message from London and Edward Kennedy’s bulletin, datelined Reims, France. The key message is contained in bulletin D36 (not pictured), announcing that Flensburg Radio was broadcasting that Germany had “capitulated unconditionally .” Within two hours of Kennedy’s bulletin, SHAEF had declared that the AP report was not “authorized” but did not deny its veracity. (AP 30, Original Wires Collection, Associated Press Corporate Archives) Kennedy and daughter, Julia, on a visit to St. Augustine, Florida, 1957. ...