Armistice Day 2008
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, The Great War was stopped, and it was declared that henceforth the 11th of November of each year should be called Armistice Day, to celebrate the end of war.
The war was so terrible that many hoped that leaders would no longer be so foolish as to start new wars, or if they did that the people would refuse to fight.
Armistice Day recalls the over 9 million soldiers killed in the war. As this site notes:
"World War I; 9,000,000 dead young men equal 1,350,000,000 pounds of bone and flesh, 27,900,000 pounds of brain matter, 11,250,000 gallons of blood, 414,000,000 years of life that will never be lived, and 22,500,000 children who will never be born. The dry if imposing figure "9,000,000 dead" seems a little less statistical when we view it from this perspective."
That 9,000,000 is merely the military casualties; 12,500,000 civilians killed as well. As is usual in war, innocent bystanders commonly become victims in greater numbers than the soldiers.
.....
In 2008, for the first time, France has no living veterans of the Great War. The few remaining of other countries are all aged near the limits of human life span.
One survivor, 112 year old veteran Henry Allingham recalls:
"I recall too many things I would like to forget.... arms, legs, everything, human flesh blown to pieces. "
"I hope there'll be no war. Pray that in the whole world there'll be no war. Nobody wins the next war. Nobody."
May there come an Armistice Day when only an aged few can recall the horrors of any war.
The war was so terrible that many hoped that leaders would no longer be so foolish as to start new wars, or if they did that the people would refuse to fight.
Armistice Day recalls the over 9 million soldiers killed in the war. As this site notes:
"World War I; 9,000,000 dead young men equal 1,350,000,000 pounds of bone and flesh, 27,900,000 pounds of brain matter, 11,250,000 gallons of blood, 414,000,000 years of life that will never be lived, and 22,500,000 children who will never be born. The dry if imposing figure "9,000,000 dead" seems a little less statistical when we view it from this perspective."
That 9,000,000 is merely the military casualties; 12,500,000 civilians killed as well. As is usual in war, innocent bystanders commonly become victims in greater numbers than the soldiers.
.....
In 2008, for the first time, France has no living veterans of the Great War. The few remaining of other countries are all aged near the limits of human life span.
One survivor, 112 year old veteran Henry Allingham recalls:
"I recall too many things I would like to forget.... arms, legs, everything, human flesh blown to pieces. "
"I hope there'll be no war. Pray that in the whole world there'll be no war. Nobody wins the next war. Nobody."
May there come an Armistice Day when only an aged few can recall the horrors of any war.