Armistice Day

"Armistice Day has become Veterans' Day. Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans' Day is not."
—Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Breakfast of Champions

Operation AXIOM: The 107th Anniversary of the Armistice of Compiègne
One hundred seven years ago to the day, 11 November 1918, "at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month," the guns fell silent on the Western Front. The "War to End All Wars" was over. Tens of millions were dead. Empires lay in ruins. Revolution was in the air. The world that had existed before the summer of 1914 was shattered utterly, torn asunder by unfathomable bloodshed.

The world had never seen madness as red as the World War; pray to the Almighty that we shall not see madness so red in our own lifetime. A century later, only the ignorant &/or the foolish would say we do not live in a world yet scarred by 1914-1918, haunted by the ghost of a war most of us prefer to pretend never happened. Western civilization barely survived the suicide attempt of 1914-1918, & might yet succumb to the wound. It all ended—in triumph, in defeat, in exhaustion, in jubilation—on 11 November 1918, one hundred seven years ago today.

"For All We Have and Are"
by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

For all we have and are,
For all our children's fate,
Stand up and meet the war.
The Hun is at the gate!
Our world has passed away
In wantonness o'erthrown.
There is nothing left to-day
But steel and fire and stone.

Though all we knew depart,
The old commandments stand:
"In courage keep your heart,
In strength lift up your hand."

Once more we hear the word
That sickened earth of old:
"No law except the sword
Unsheathed and uncontrolled,"
Once more it knits mankind,
Once more the nations go
To meet and break and bind
A crazed and driven foe.

Comfort, content, delight—
The ages' slow-bought gain—
They shrivelled in a night,
Only ourselves remain
To face the naked days
In silent fortitude,
Through perils and dismays
Renewed and re-renewed.

Though all we made depart,
The old commandments stand:
"In patience keep your heart,
In strength lift up your hand."

No easy hopes or lies
Shall bring us to our goal,
But iron sacrifice
Of body, will, and soul.
There is but one task for all—
For each one life to give.
Who stands if Freedom fall?
Who dies if England live?

"The Deserter"
by Winifred Mary Letts (1882-1972)

There was a man, — don't mind his name,
Whom fear has dogged by night and day.
He could not face the German guns
And so he turned and ran away.
Just that-he turned and ran away,
But who can judge him, you or I?
God makes a man of flesh and blood
Who yearns to live and not to die.
And this man when he feared to die.
Was scared as any frightened child,
His knees were shaking under him,
His breath came fast, his eyes were wild.
I've seen a hare with eyes as wild,
With throbbing heart and sobbing breath.
But oh! it shames one's soul to see
A man in abject fear of death.
But fear had gripped him, so had death;
His number had gone up that day,
They might not heed his frightened eyes,
They shot him when the dawn was grey
Blindfolded, when the dawn was grey,
He stood there in a place apart,
The shots rang out and down he fell,
An English bullet in his heart.
An English bullet in his heart!
But here's the irony of life,-
His mother thinks he fought and fell
A hero, foremost in the strife.
So she goes proudly; to the strife
Her best, her hero son she gave.
O well for her she does not know
He lies in a deserter's grave.

The Wayback Machine Tour of Armistice Day: Lest We Forget
Armistice Day '24 + Armistice Day '23

Armistice Day '22 + Armistice Day '21 + Armistice Day '20 + Armistice Day '18

Armistice Day '17 + Armistice Day '16 + Armistice Day '15 + Armistice Day '14

Armistice Day '13 + Armistice Day '12 + Armistice Day '11 + Armistice Day '10

Armistice Day '09 + Armistice Day '08 + Armistice Day '07 + Armistice Day '06

Armistice Day '05 + Armistice Day '04 + Armistice Day '03 + Armistice Day '02

The Explorers' Club № DCLVI: 11 November 1918—The Armistice
The Explorers' Club № DCCXVI: 11 November 1919—The First Armistice Day
The Explorers' Club № DCCLXXXIII: 11 November 1920—The Second Armistice Day
The Explorers' Club № DCCCLVII: 11 November 1921—The Third Armistice Day

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Armistice Day
Rob Carriker, "Over There!" from Over There!: Songs from America's Wars (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Lest we forget.