On Veterans Day we should sustain the hope for a world at peace
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William Lambers is an writer who partnered with the United Nations World Meals Program on the e book “Ending World Starvation.”
Think about what Lieutenant A.J. Roemmick was considering as he left the trenches in France to assault German troops on November 11, 1918. World Struggle I used to be nonetheless raging.
As Roemmick entered the “No Man’s Land” that separated the American forces from enemy German forces, any second may very well be his final. So many males had misplaced their lives in World Struggle I, essentially the most brutal battle in historical past at that time.
Whereas bravely advancing by way of “No Man’s Land” Roemmick abruptly heard a noise that was not gunfire. It was a bugle sounding. The fast footsteps of a runner may then be heard. Runners have been troopers who carried messages throughout World Struggle I.
“A runner got here and informed us the armistice had been signed,” Roemmick wrote in a letter to his mom printed by the St. Louis Publish-Dispatch.
The battle was over! Roemmick went from what he thought can be nearly sure demise to jubilation in only a matter of seconds.
At 11 a.m. on Nov. 11, 1918, the Armistice took impact, which ended the preventing of World Struggle I.
That’s the origin of Veterans Day, initially often called Armistice Day. It’s a day to rejoice peace and the women and men who’ve fought so bravely for it over a few years.
For some households there was a lifetime of sorrow for these misplaced within the battle. My nice uncle, Ira Pitzer, was killed in France on Nov. 3, 1918, simply eight days earlier than the Armistice. He by no means bought to expertise the peace he was preventing for.
After the Armistice it was hoped that the horror of battle wouldn’t be repeated. Regardless that the main preventing of World Struggle I had ended with the Armistice, there was nonetheless the enemy of starvation. Struggle all the time results in meals shortages.
U.S. troopers and civilians of the American Aid Administration carried on life-saving missions after the 1918 Armistice. Their process was to stop hunger within the war-torn international locations. Lieutenant George Harrington led a starvation aid mission in Riga, the capital of Latvia, and helped negotiate a ceasefire between forces preventing inside the nation. A report learn “Lieutenant Harrington deserves the best credit score. He has prevented wholesale homicide at Riga.”
There was the hope that the Armistice ended the “battle to finish all wars.” President Calvin Coolidge referred to November eleventh as “peace day.” Coolidge believed that Armistice Day, which was achieved by way of the sacrifice of many individuals and nations, ought to unite the world towards peace.
Coolidge wrote in 1924 “Celebrated in lots of lands and by many peoples, it’ll remind them of their united efforts and customary sacrifices within the bitterest disaster of civilization’s historical past. It should all the time recall the truth that humanity has way more motive for unity than for discord. It should emphasize the widespread beliefs and aspirations which should eventually draw all males into fraternity and set their ft in the way in which of peace.”
Tragically, an even bigger world battle would observe twenty years later and so many different conflicts too. Proper now there are wars going down in Ukraine and extra not too long ago the Israel-Hamas battle.
However there nonetheless stays the hope for a world at peace, the place individuals can stay free from concern and aggression. Our veterans have sacrificed to maintain us free and from battle reaching our shores.
On Armistice Day, or Veterans Day, let’s honor their sacrifice and consider methods we are able to additional peace on this planet.
We should encourage nations to resolve their variations peacefully. We are able to help starvation aid missions to stop nations from struggling the chaos of meals shortages. Meals is a vital requirement for peace.
We should not let the dream of Armistice Day vanish. We should sustain the hope for a world at peace.
