On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh
month, the guns fell silent all along the western front.
So ended the First World War – the most devastating war
Europe had ever experienced; begun one hundred years ago last August, ending
four bloody years later.
It was the world’s first exposure to industrial-scale
murder. Over a billion (with a ‘b’)
artillery shells were fired into the frontier of trenches that stretched across
France and Belgium, from Switzerland to the North Sea. Four million soldiers died in those trenches,
and in the shell-pocked moonscape ‘no-man’s land’ hell that separated the sides.
When it ended, there was briefly a hope that humanity had
learned its lesson about militarism. In
that light, November 11 was established as a holiday to celebrate peace. Here is the final clause in the US Congressional
resolution of 1926:
“Whereas
the legislatures of twenty-seven of our States have already declared November
11 to be a legal holiday: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of
Representatives concurring), that the President of the United States is
requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the
flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and
inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and
churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly
relations with all other peoples.”
It’s an international holiday. Though it goes by different names in
different countries, the prayers for peace, and the expressions of respect for
those who have borne the brunt of conflict are common.
Greetings for Veteran’s Day, Armistice Day, Remembrance
Day.
Peace!
