A letter from my Great Grandfather to my Grandfather Armistice Day 1942

“Dear Roger,
     As I was riding
across the country today I could not help but remember lying on a hospital bed
in France 24 years ago tonight.  As I
have never talked to you very much about the first Armistice Day and in view of
what we are witnessing abroad at this time I am going to set down a few things
that come to my mind 24 years after the first Armistice Day.
 The countries of the world had been fighting bitterly for
more than four years.  The U.S. had been
in the struggle for a year and six months. 
I was in a hospital, Evacuation Unit #8 near Ancemont a little town near
Souilly which was General Pershing’s advance field headquarters.  About four P.M. on Nov. 10^th a
motorcycle courier coming back from the front lines told one of the hospital
men that there would be an Armistice the next morning at 11 O’clock and that
the fighting would be over.  The rumor ran
thru the hospital like an electric shock. 
We could scarcely believe our ears. 
It did not seem possible that his thing that had been going on for so
long would be over in a few short hours. 
Next morning the rumble of guns could be plainly heard all morning.  The heavy American Artillery could be heard
firing from positions immediately behind the hospital.  This went on right up to eleven o’clock.  Then suddenly there was intense quiet.  For the first time in more than four years
the guns were quiet.
                Then
suddenly the French hospital attendants across the road began to fire off
pistols and shout ‘Fini la guerre’ (The war is finished’) It was not finished
however for a good many of those boys lying on cots in that ward.  Many of them would never walk again.  Others, not there, had given up their lives
for a cause.  It was the same cause that
American boys are giving up their lives in Africa for tonight.  It was to make this world a better place to
live in.  While we may have made some
mistakes in writing the peace and seeing that its terms were carried out, these
were errors of the hand and not of the heart, but it makes it necessary to do
the job all over again now.  The job will
be done this time and no mistake.  Events
in Africa point the way to that.  Many
fine boys will be hurt and crippled, but the same principle which we fought for
24 years ago will be maintained.  It was
right then and it is just as right today.
                So
Armistice Day 1942 should have more of a meaning than just another holiday.  It should be a day of reflection for men like
me, and it should make young fellows like you stop and realize that the things
that are around you in everyday life in America did not just happen.  They were bought and paid for as Winston
Churchill said ‘With blood, and sweat, and tears.’  We should always try to maintain them, our
true American Way of Life.”

Update:  I have just uploaded a copy of my Great Grandpa’s letter.  You can view i here