Sixty-four years ago today, the world celebrated peace with the announcement that Japan was surrendering, and a local woman who served in the U.S. Navy WAVES has a newspaper she bought that day.

The Second World War was finally ending, a war that began almost six years earlier when the German Wehrmacht smashed into Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. On Dec. 7, 1941, the United States was plunged into the war when the Empire of Japan attacked the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

Germany laid down its arms on May 7, 1945, but Japan continued to fight and an Allied invasion seemed certain. That all changed in August 1945 when atomic bombs were unleashed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

On Aug. 14, (Aug. 15 Japanese time) Emperor Hirohito announced to the Japanese people that the country was accepting the Allied surrender terms.

Although sporadic fighting continued, a conflict that left as many as 60 million dead was coming to an end.

Carol Virginia (Martin) Weaver, a resident of Sterling House in Durant, served as a telegrapher in the U.S. Navy as part of the “Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service” (WAVES). She was stationed in New Orleans, La., when Japan surrendered.

A 1941 graduate of Drumright High School, she joined the navy on Nov. 14, 1944, and was sent to the U.S. Naval Training School in The Bronx, N.Y.

Six days after her enlistment, she sent a post card home to her mother in Drumright.

“Hup! 2-3-4 — Hup 2-Hup 4,” she wrote. “That’s what I hear all day, but it’s not bad. We’ve had tests and lectures today.”

Weaver does not talk much about her experiences today, saying it was a long time ago. However, one of her children, Donna Hair, has typed out things she has said before.

Weaver joined the navy because she wanted something more interesting.

“I was 19 when I joined the navy,” she said. “You were supposed to be 20 to get in, but if your parents gave their permission, you could go in a little bit earlier than that, so that’s what happened. Daddy did give permission.”

She was trained as a telegrapher, first class. According to a navy pamphlet issued to her, a telegrapher is a petty officer who either operates land-line teletypewriter or telegraph equipment at naval shore communications offices.

“I did teletype, Weaver said. “That was a thing I could remember. It was a real good job. I really enjoyed it. That would be obsolete now because radio has taken over, but back then, they didn’t have radio like they do now.”

During her service, she was sent to New Orleans, where she bought the “extra” edition of the New Orleans States on Aug. 14, 1945, that announced “peace.” The newspaper has yellowed and the pages are brittle after 64 years, but it has been laminated to preserve it.

She was honorably discharged on July 16, 1946. In the summer of 1947, she married James Marshall Weaver and the couple moved to Durant. Mr. Weaver, also a World War II veteran, died in 1991.

She has been a resident of the Sterling House in Durant since December 2002. A photo of her in uniform hangs in the hallway of an area designated for veterans who are residents of Sterling House.

Today, Weaver is 85 years old. She sits quietly in her wheelchair and like many from the World War II generation, she is not interested in making a big deal out of her service to her country.

“Well, that was a long time ago,” she said. “Everybody was joining something back then.”