Poster by Howard Giles, 1918
"A day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as Armistice Day."
-Act of Congress officially establishing Armistice Day, 1938
"The American Unknown Soldier who lies here did not give his life on the fields of France merely to defend his American home for the moment that was passing. He gave it that his family, his neighbors, and all his fellow Americans might live in peace in the days to come. His hope was not fulfilled.
American soldiers are giving their lives today in all the continents and on all the seas in order that the dream of the Unknown Soldier may at last come true. All the heroism and all the unconquerable devotion that free men and women are showing in this war shall make certain the survival and the advancement of civilization."
-Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1942 Armistice Day address
On November 11, 1918, at 11:11 a.m., the first World War, then the most devastating conflict in human history, ended. Many do not remember this fact, and often the war itself is been overshadowed by its even more terrible sibling, spawned 21 years later.
But from its ashes rose Armistice Day, later Veterans Day or Remembrance Day, depending on the country. That has remained, though in the U.S., especially, the original reason for the date has been long forgotten.
There is something deeply sad about the change. Armistice Day implied that the fighting was over, that the Great War had truly been "a war to end wars" and humanity could now move forward.
It was not to be so. Then came World War II, the Cold War, Korea, Vietnam and on. Armistice Day became Veterans Day. In some way, in seemed a silent apology. Before we celebrated a treaty. Now we celebrate veterans, because there will always be more of them. Yes, war is supposed to be over. It is not. We are sorry.
As Eric Bogle would sing in his classic No Man's Land: it all happened again and again and again.
One of the reasons for Armistice Day was that World War I, in retrospect, seemed so damned useless. Millions were killed because of rampant militarism and nationalistic bluster. Historians pore over the days leading up to the war, and remain shocked by how avoidable the conflict seemed, in retrospect.
About a year ago, an Iraq war veteran I knew broke down, telling me that as hellish as his experience had been, it was the seeming pointlessness that ate at him the most. I had no answer for that, because there is none. But it's clear he's not alone.
There will always be veterans. Humans being what they are, there will always be a need for a military, in some form. Veterans need our support and understanding, because many of them have been through horrors we will never be able to understand. But if we mean one percent of all the rhetoric that will be spilled today, we'll try to create as few of them as possible in the coming years. Until then, the hope will still not be fulfilled.
To all survivors, of all armies:
Tom Waits - "Day After Tomorrow" video from Anti Records on Vimeo.
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