The big guns on the Western Front were firing right up to the minute of the Armistice. This short recording was taken near American positions close to the river Moselle.
Our Great Great Uncle, Private John Q. Adams of Killeen, Texas, was wounded by machine gun fire after the Armistice had been signed; word of the peace hadn't reached that sector of the front. He died ten days later. Rest in Peace.
I'll leave you with this, At The Cenotaph by Seigried Sasson.
I saw the Prince of Darkness, with his Staff,
Standing bare-headed by the Cenotaph:
Unostentatious and respectful, there
He stood, and offered up the following prayer.
'Make them forget, O Lord, what this Memorial
Means; their discredited ideas revive;
Breed new belief that War is purgatorial
Proof of the pride and power of being alive;
Men's biologic urge to readjust
The Map of Europe, Lord of Hosts, increase;
Lift up their hearts in large destructive lust;
And crown their heads with blind vindictive Peace.'
The Prince of Darkness to the Cenotaph
Bowed. As he walked away I heard him laugh.
LSP
The losses were stunning...
ReplyDeleteIt led to a crowd there at the Pearly Gates.
ReplyDeleteAnd it was just round one.
ReplyDeleteSadly, that prince is still laughing..
ReplyDelete1918 was a God-awful year. The military loss of life during the entire war was minuscule compared to the millions and millions killed by the Spanish flu epidemic.
ReplyDeleteNot a good year for humans, not even close.
NFO, LL, Jim and Linda -- your comments read like verse!
ReplyDeleteWell said.
We forget about the killer flu epidemic, Fredd. Terrible and right on top of the war.
ReplyDeleteI recall a story told by someone who had interviewed and old man who had been 8 or 9 years old in 1918. At that time he living with his family on their farm in a rural community. Everyone in his family got the flu. He awoke one morning, and being the first up, went to stoke the fire in the stove. After that, he made his way around the house, only to discover that he was the only survivor. Everyone else was dead.
ReplyDeletethe young lad made his way some distance to a neighboring farm house, only to find everyone there dead as well. In the interview, he said that at the time he briefly considered ending his own life, as he could not bear the thought of being the last person alive on earth.
He eventually made his way to a third farm house, and found others there who had survived as well.