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26 Responses to “11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month 1918”
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1. Tanker
   

   1 | November 11, 2012 11:46 am

   Absolutely amazed that even on this blog, after being up for 41 minutes, there are no comments on the importance of this day in history.

   I cry daily for the lives given to defend this nation. A nation that at this point doesn’t seem to give a shit if it fails! So many reap the awards from those that can’t any longer!

   God bless America!

   
   
2. MacDuff
   

   2 | November 11, 2012 12:08 pm

   The Revolutionary War
   The War of 1812
   The Civil War
   World War I
   World War II
   Korea
   Vietnam
   The Gulf War
   Afghanistan
   Iraq

   The span of years between these wars was relatively short. So short,u in fact, that when one was fought, veterans of the previous were still quite numerous- an unbroken chain from our very founding to the present.

   Any lack of respect for those who have died for our country, from Yorktown to Benghazi, is a conscious choice, not a lack of information.

   
   
3. Iron Fist
   

   3 | November 11, 2012 12:08 pm

   @ Tanker:
   They basically don’t teach history any more. Even when I went through school WWI got short Schrift. I knew today was Vetern’s Day, but really didn’t think of it as Armistice Day.

   
   
4. doriangrey
   

   4 | November 11, 2012 12:16 pm

   Iron Fist wrote:

   @ Tanker:
   They basically don’t teach history any more. Even when I went through school WWI got short Schrift. I knew today was Vetern’s Day, but really didn’t think of it as Armistice Day.

   Veterans Day was originally called Armistice Day, but the name was changed in 1954 to embrace ALL of America’s fallen warriors, not just those of WWI.

   
   
5. Bumr50
   

   5 | November 11, 2012 12:20 pm

   I’m watching a program on dogfighting featuring Eddie Rickenbacker right now.

   
   
6. doriangrey
   

   6 | November 11, 2012 12:23 pm

   Bumr50 wrote:

   I’m watching a program on dogfighting featuring Eddie Rickenbacker right now.

   My Grandfather flew with Eddie… He also retired as the Commandant of the 94th Aero Squadron in 1958.

   
   
7. coldwarrior
   

   7 | November 11, 2012 12:27 pm

   @ Tanker:

   i was at holy liturgy.

   we celebrated our veterans today.

   
   
8. RIX
   

   8 | November 11, 2012 12:28 pm

   Happy Veterans Day & thank you to all of our vets.

   
   
9. Mars
   

   9 | November 11, 2012 12:31 pm

   Everybody who’s a vet be sure to check online and see which of your local restaurants are offering a veterans meal. There are several both today and tomorrow.

   
   
10. doriangrey
    

    10 | November 11, 2012 12:32 pm

    coldwarrior wrote:

    @ Tanker:
    i was at holy liturgy.
    we celebrated our veterans today.

    I will be going out this afternoon, about 1pm PST to kick it with a group of veterans, drink beer with them and grill up some dead animals for them. The dead have no need of my prayers, the living on the other hand, I still have the honor of showing my respect to.

    
    
11. Mike C.
    

    11 | November 11, 2012 12:37 pm

    @ MacDuff:

    No Spanish-American war? No Mexican war?

    I did remember to put up the new banner at GCP yesterday. We’ve got a member with some talent at these things, and like to take full advantage. Peek in and have a look at it if you have a moment.

    And no, I’m not poaching. It’s a good banner.

    
    
12. Tanker
    

    12 | November 11, 2012 12:38 pm

    Heading out to our Veterans Day Parade! Hope all have a great day, and may God release his blessings upon all!

    I’m mentoring a young man in a Group Foster Home, he is my special guest for all activities today! Hope to help with some of his knowledge of history!

    
    
13. John Difool
    

    13 | November 11, 2012 12:40 pm

    Thanks to all of the vets on here, out there, past & present. Your sacrifices are much appreciated, it’s what has kept America free & great.

    I tried honoring the vets on Tuesday by casting a vote for the America they tried so hard to preserve, although it was all for naught.

    Guess I’ll just watch some football & pour some beer out on the lawn for my dead homie, the United States of America today.

    
    
14. Kirly
    

    14 | November 11, 2012 12:49 pm

    I’m very sad. I wrote a great comment about the exceptional Veterans Day observation at my employer on Friday. I’ll attempt to recreate it.

    My employer has a Veterans Memorial onsight. It’s beautiful and it’s right up front where you approach the public entrance. It has the name of every past and present employee who is also a Veteran. The American flag flies high, as it always has. The Arizona flag and the POW-MIA flag too. And the flags of each of the Military Services -- Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard. Every year, my employer does a great Veterans Day. Each year a Veteran employee of each of the 5 services is chosen to sit in a place of honor during the ceremony and, after the song/anthem of their Service is played, is presented with the flag of that service by a member of a wonderful Boy Scout Troop (they practiced at least 3 evenings prior -- i saw them). This year we also had an empty chair representing the POW-MIA. Any employee can register a friend/relative guest for attendance. This year there were 70+ WWII veterans registered included one who signed up at 14 years of age and, captured at the age of 16, served ~4 years as a POW. We always have at least one military speaker. This year we had 2 including an active duty doctor from Luke Air Force Base who treats returning members -- some of whom suffer from PTSD. This years event was even more exciting than normal with a very loud, VERY LOW flyby of B25.

    Also included in the ceremony is Rolling Thunder -- the bigger and noisier the motorcycles, the better! This year I noticed a very old race car! They are all decked out in streaming flags and the colors! Another beautiful thing.

    After the ceremony, all the Veterans, guests and employees alike, get a free lunch. We have a pretty good cafeteria so that’s nice.

    Aonother thing they do every year is invite all employees to submit pictures of their Veteran relatives. These are compiled into a slide show and shown all day (all week actually) on all the monitors up on the walls. We also do the white table cloth, salt, empty/upside down glass, burning candle, and Bible (yes, BIBLE) every year.

    They also had sugar cookies in the cafeteria with the seals of the Army, Navy, and Air Force printed on the frosting. They decoration on these was amazing.

    
    
15. doriangrey
    

    15 | November 11, 2012 12:56 pm

    @ Kirly:

    That is very cool, it’s nice to know that the Marxist among us who attempt to denigrate celebrations like Veterans Day because it might cause people to stop and reflect or even worse to wax patriotic have not yet succeeded in destroying this spirit of reverence and honor for those who have placed service of the United States Constitution and the Republic which stands upon it above all else.

    
    
16. MacDuff
    

    16 | November 11, 2012 12:59 pm

    Mike C. wrote:

    @ MacDuff:

    No Spanish-American war? No Mexican war?

    I did remember to put up the new banner at GCP yesterday. We’ve got a member with some talent at these things, and like to take full advantage. Peek in and have a look at it if you have a moment.

    And no, I’m not poaching. It’s a good banner.

    Thanks for reminding me! I was just typing them quickly off the top of my head and left this off.

    
    
17. Kirly
    

    17 | November 11, 2012 1:02 pm

    doriangrey wrote:

    @ Kirly:

    That is very cool, it’s nice to know that the Marxist among us who attempt to denigrate celebrations like Veterans Day because it might cause people to stop and reflect or even worse to wax patriotic have not yet succeeded in destroying this spirit of reverence and honor for those who have placed service of the United States Constitution and the Republic which stands upon it above all else.

    yes, it’s great every year. i NEVER miss it. even if it’s a day i’m supposed to have off, i’ll change and drive that 100 mile round trip just for that. it’s something to see, i tell you what.

    
    
18. Mars
    

    18 | November 11, 2012 1:05 pm

    Kirly wrote:

    I’m very sad. I wrote a great comment about the exceptional Veterans Day observation at my employer on Friday. I’ll attempt to recreate it.
    My employer has a Veterans Memorial onsight. It’s beautiful and it’s right up front where you approach the public entrance. It has the name of every past and present employee who is also a Veteran. The American flag flies high, as it always has. The Arizona flag and the POW-MIA flag too. And the flags of each of the Military Services — Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard. Every year, my employer does a great Veterans Day. Each year a Veteran employee of each of the 5 services is chosen to sit in a place of honor during the ceremony and, after the song/anthem of their Service is played, is presented with the flag of that service by a member of a wonderful Boy Scout Troop (they practiced at least 3 evenings prior — i saw them). This year we also had an empty chair representing the POW-MIA. Any employee can register a friend/relative guest for attendance. This year there were 70+ WWII veterans registered included one who signed up at 14 years of age and, captured at the age of 16, served ~4 years as a POW. We always have at least one military speaker. This year we had 2 including an active duty doctor from Luke Air Force Base who treats returning members — some of whom suffer from PTSD. This years event was even more exciting than normal with a very loud, VERY LOW flyby of B25.
    Also included in the ceremony is Rolling Thunder — the bigger and noisier the motorcycles, the better! This year I noticed a very old race car! They are all decked out in streaming flags and the colors! Another beautiful thing.
    After the ceremony, all the Veterans, guests and employees alike, get a free lunch. We have a pretty good cafeteria so that’s nice.
    Aonother thing they do every year is invite all employees to submit pictures of their Veteran relatives. These are compiled into a slide show and shown all day (all week actually) on all the monitors up on the walls. We also do the white table cloth, salt, empty/upside down glass, burning candle, and Bible (yes, BIBLE) every year.
    They also had sugar cookies in the cafeteria with the seals of the Army, Navy, and Air Force printed on the frosting. They decoration on these was amazing.

    That’s amazing.

    The last place I worked terminated me two days after they got my veterans hiring tax credit, and two days before the end of my probationary.

    You’ve got a special company. I’m impressed.

    
    
19. huckfunn
    

    19 | November 11, 2012 1:13 pm

    Henry N. Gunther; the last American to die in WWI.

    Among the ranks of the 313th engaged on armistice morning was Henry N. Gunther, a fine-looking soldier in his mid-twenties, erect, with a clear-eyed gaze and a guardsman’s mustache that suggested a British subaltern rather than an American private. Gunther, however, had had difficulty with army life. He came from a heavily German neighborhood in east Baltimore where the culture of his forebears remained strong. When the United States went to war, Gunther and his neighbors began to experience anti-German prejudice. In this poisonous atmosphere, Gunther felt no impulse to enlist. He was doing nicely at the National Bank of Baltimore and had a girlfriend, Olga Gruebl, who he intended to marry.

    Nevertheless, Gunther was drafted five months after America entered the war. His closest pal, Ernest Powell, became platoon sergeant in Company A, while Gunther was appointed supply sergeant. ‘Supply sergeants were traditionally unpopular,’ Powell recalled. ‘Army clothing in the war, as they said at the time, came in two sizes–too large and too small.’ Supply sergeants took the brunt of the soldiers’ gripes, and Gunther began keeping to himself, his enthusiasm for army life well controlled.

    After arriving in France in July 1918, he wrote a friend back home to stay clear of the war since conditions were miserable. An army censor passed the letter along to Gunther’s commanding officer, who broke the sergeant to private. Gunther then found himself serving under Ernie Powell, once his coequal, a chafing humiliation. Thereafter, Powell observed Gunther becoming increasingly brooding and withdrawn.

    By Armistice Day, the 313th had been engaged in nearly two months of uninterrupted combat. At 9:30 that morning, the regiment jumped off, bayonets fixed, rifles at port, heads bent, slogging through a marshland in an impenetrable fog toward their objective, a speck on the map called Ville-Devant-Chaumont. Its advance was to be covered by the 311th Machine Gun Battalion. But in the fog, the gunners had no idea where to direct their fire, and Company A thus moved along in an eerie silence. Suddenly, German artillery opened up, and men began to fall.

    At sixteen minutes before 11, a runner caught up with the 313th’s parent 157th Brigade to report that the armistice had been signed. Again, the message made no mention of what to do in the interim. Brigadier General William Nicholson, commanding the brigade, made his decision: ‘There will be absolutely no let-up until 11:00 a.m.’ More runners were dispatched to spread the word to the farthest advanced regiments, including Gunther’s. The 313th now gathered below a ridge called the Côte Romagne. Two German machine gun squads manning a roadblock watched, disbelieving, as shapes began emerging from the fog. Gunther and Sergeant Powell dropped to the ground as bullets sang above their heads. The Germans then ceased firing, assuming that the Americans would have the good sense to stop with the end so near. Suddenly, Powell saw Gunther rise and begin loping toward the machine guns. He shouted for Gunther to stop. The machine gunners waved him back, but Gunther kept advancing. The enemy reluctantly fired a five-round burst. Gunther was struck in the left temple and died instantly. The time was 10:59 a.m. General Pershing’s order of the day would later record Henry Gunther as the last American killed in the war.

    
    
20. Kirly
    

    20 | November 11, 2012 1:18 pm

    forgot one detail… the officer speaker (not the doc, the other feller) quoted the Bible…John 15:12-13

    12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends

    yes, right there in a semi-public place. and NO ONE minded. not even the one moslem woman i know and saw there. she even wears the head covering.

    
    
21. buzzsawmonkey
    

    21 | November 11, 2012 1:24 pm

    Mars wrote:

    The last place I worked terminated me two days after they got my veterans hiring tax credit, and two days before the end of my probationary.

    Disgusting.

    
    
22. Kirly
    

    22 | November 11, 2012 1:30 pm

    buzzsawmonkey wrote:

    Mars wrote:

    The last place I worked terminated me two days after they got my veterans hiring tax credit, and two days before the end of my probationary.

    Disgusting.

    indeed. it should be revoked.

    
    
23. Mars
    

    23 | November 11, 2012 1:37 pm

    Kirly wrote:

    buzzsawmonkey wrote:

    Mars wrote:
    The last place I worked terminated me two days after they got my veterans hiring tax credit, and two days before the end of my probationary.
    Disgusting.

    indeed. it should be revoked.

    It was 07 so it’s all in the past.

    
    
24. poteen
    

    24 | November 11, 2012 3:17 pm

    Flag went up at sunrise. Only one on the street 6 hours later.
    More Piolin bumper stickers than US flags. There’s your election story.
    Sad day.

    
    
25. Bunk X
    

    25 | November 11, 2012 4:57 pm

    My granduncle was in the Signal Corps in WWI. Here’s a letter he wrote 14 November 1918.

    Dear Mom and Dad:

    Well, of all the wonderful things that could ever happen. The war is “won”. As the French say, “Fini la Guerre.” Every Frenchman we meet hollers, “Fini la Guerre, Merci! Beaucoup.” It means-- The war is over, thank you many times. We are sure some glad bunch. I sure will have a lot of stuff to tell you when I return. And that won’t be long. We are now away from the front for the first time. I just got rid of a bunch of cooties yesterday. I hope that they will be the last, too. The are sure the cause of one hell of a feelling.

    Well, this is all for the present. So long and hoping to see you soon.

    Soldier Bill

    
    
26. Lily
    

    26 | November 11, 2012 7:37 pm

    Thanks to all our veterns past and present!