THE
REMEMBERING
by John Herrington
WMV Web News Cleveland
Story filed November
10, 1997
Copied from HERE
It was Tuesday
morning, Nov. 12, 1918, and the two-tiered Cleveland Plain Dealer headline
stretched across all eight columns, heralding the news of the previous
day:
SURRENDER
OF GERMANY IS COMPLETE; JOY FILLS LAND
It was a headline,
echoing those of thousands of other newspapers: the headline of Armistice.
Plain Dealer Washington
reporter Ben F. Allen quoted President Wilson in his opening paragraph:
"The war thus
comes to an end."
An accompanying two-column
story at the bottom of the page said of Cleveland:
CITY WILDLY HAPPY
OVER PEACE, HAS DELIRIOUS DAY
The body copy
under the headline, translated to today terms, might sound much like a
sport-crazed city celebrating a national championship:
"A raving, hysterical
mob, members hugging and kissing each other,
shouting and
laughing, singing and crying, swept convention and the
city's normal
activities aside from dawn till midnight yesterday in the
wildest, noisiest
celebration the city has ever seen."
More than four years
of war ended with Armistice at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th
month in 1918.
In 1919, President
Woodrow Wilson designated the observance of that date, Armistice Day.
Nov. 11 was still
remembered as Armistice Day in 1941. At Arlington Cemetery, President Franklin
D. Roosevelt called it "a day sacred to the memory of those who gave their
lives in the war which that day ended. Our observance of this Anniversary
has a particular significance in the year 1941."
The President
went on: "For we are able today as we were not always able in the past
to measure our indebtedness to those who died." He continued, "We know,
because we face that danger once again on this day."
Less than a month
later, in another speech, President Roosevelt spoke of "...a date which
will live in infamy."
The date of which
he spoke, of course, was December 7, 1941.
The "War to End
All Wars" in 1918, didn't.
And in 1954, the
name of the observance was changed. It became Veterans Day to honor veterans
of all wars.
Ernie Pyle --
some called him "the G.I.'s newspaperman"--wrote in the final sentences
of his book, "Here Is Your War":
"They died and
thereby the rest of us can go on and on. When we leave
here for the
next shore, there is nothing we can do for the ones beneath
the wooden crosses,
except perhaps to pause and murmur, ' Thanks, pal.' "
(Ernie Pyle wrote
that in Tunisia in 1943. He did go on to other shores to cover other GI's.
In 1945, he was killed by a sniper's bullet on an island off the coast
of Okinawa. He is buried between two unknown soldiers.)
Some veterans
organizations expand the special day into a week of activities, the decorating
of graves of veterans, perhaps a parade or memorial service here and there.
In Canada, the
day is honored as "Remembrance Day." They sell replica poppies to remember
Canadian war dead.
"In Flanders
fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses,
row on row."
"In Flanders Fields"
vs. 1
(Footnote: In case
you missed it in the Sunday funnies in the Plain Dealer, Nov. 9, and the
paper is still around, check out "For Better or For Worse." It's a Canadian-
based comic strip. Mom buys a poppy; small daughter asks why; mom says
to remember soldiers who died fighting the war; small daughter says, "I'm
not really sure what a war is." Mom says, I know...and that, I think, is
the best reason of all.")
"We are the Dead.
Short days ago
We lived, felt
dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were
loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields."
"In Flanders
Fields" vs. 2
In a respectful murmer:
Thanks, pal. |