11-11-11-11-11

On the 11th minute of 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 a permanent ceasefire was called along the Eastern and Western fronts, although opposing troops continued to shoot at each other for several hours after the armistice ended the four-year War To End All Wars conflict and even longer in the far reaches of the global war.

11-11-11 occurs once a century.

Someone in the armistice committee must have been heavily influenced by numerology to have chosen this powerful progression of the first prime number.

As if this magical combination was powerful enough to stop soldiers from killing each other.

George Lawrence Price was hit by the sniper's bullet at 10:58 and the Canadian is thought to be the Great War's last casualty.

Of course the time could have been a coincidences like 9/11/2001.

Today the major combatant nations of World War I commemorated their fallen dead.

Over 65 million soldiers participated in the struggle.

My grandfather and grandmother both served in France for the Canadian Medical expedition. As my grandmother was disembarking at Le Havre, she stumbled coming down the steep gangplank. My grandfather stopped her fall and helped her onto the dock They served as doctor and nurse along with my Aunt Marion at Epinay tending to thousands of wounded and dying. After the outbreak of Spanish Flu in 1917, the three of them returned home on an ocean liner together. Captain Smith and Nurse Hamblin married soon after their arrival in Maine. The two veterans lived together for thirty-two years. My grandfather died the year I was born and my grandmother twenty years later. My grandfather died shortly after my birth, but my grandmother never spoke of her years tending to the wounded and dying soldiers. She never mentioned how the shooting went on well beyond the ceasefire hour, only how she met my grandfather and how they fell in love.

Today I thank them that I've never had to fire a shot in anger and appreciate the sacrifice of the fallen so that I can remain a pacifist.My grandmother never spoke of her years tending to the wounded and dying soldiers, only how she met my grandfather and how they fell in love, as he reched out to her on the gangway landing in France.

Today I thank them that I've never had to fire a shot in anger and appreciate the sacrifice of the fallen, so that I remain a pacifist.

She was the last World War I vets I knew.

The last veteran to serve in the trenches was Harry Patch (British Army) who died on 25 July 2009, aged 111 and the last Central Powers veteran, Franz Künstler of Austria-Hungary, died on 27 May 2008 at the age of 107.

The last surviving veteran was Claude Choules, who served Royal Navy during WW1, who died in 2011 aged 110. Rest in peace, soldiers!

Peace will come one day.

11-11-11

On the 11th minute of 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 a permanent ceasefire was declared along the Eastern and Western fronts. Canadian George Lawrence Price was hit by the sniper's bullet at 10:58 and he has long been thought to be the last casualty of that conflict, although troops continued to shoot at each other for several hour after the armistice ended the four-year global conflict.

11-11-11 occurs once a year.

Someone in the armistice committee must have been heavily influenced by numerology to have chosen this powerful repetition of the first prime number to magically stop soldiers from killing each other.

Of course it could have just been a coincidences like 9/11/2001.

Today the major combatant nations of World War I commemorated their fallen dead.

Over 65 million soldiers participated in the struggle.

According to Wikipedia the last living veteran of World War I (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918) was Florence Green, a British citizen who served in the Allied armed forces, and who died 4 February 2012, aged 110. The last living combat veteran was Claude Choules who served in the British Royal Navy (and later the Royal Australian Navy). He died 5 May 2011, at the age of 110.

The last veteran to serve in the trenches was Harry Patch (British Army) who died on 25 July 2009, aged 111 and the last Central Powers veteran, Franz Künstler of Austria-Hungary, died on 27 May 2008 at the age of 107.

My grandfather and grandmother both served in France for the Canadian Medical expedition. As my grandmother was disembarking at Le Havre, she stumbled coming down the steep gangplank. My grandfather stopped her fall and helped her onto the dock They served as doctor and nurse along with my Aunt Marion at Epinay tending to thousands of wounded and dying. After the outbreak of Spanish Flu in 1917, the three of them returned home on an ocean liner together. Captain Smith and Nurse Hamblin married soon after their arrival in Maine. The two veterans lived together for thirty-two years. My grandfather died the year I was born and my grandmother twenty years later.

She was the last WWI vet I knew.

I love her always.

11-11-1918

Tomorrow I will toast the millions of sad sacrifices of men to imperialism. I also thanked the stars that I’ve never had to fire a shot in anger.<

The truce between the Axis and Allies was signed at 5am, but ceasefire didn't take effect, until the 11th second of the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month and for six hours guns along the Western Front unloosed their last cannonade.

Soldiers on both sides had ammo and they weren't taking none of the death home from 'over there'.

It is estimated that over 10,000 men were killed or wounded between 5am and 11am.

The last casualty was reputed to be a Canadian, Private George Lawrence Price.

He was struck in the chest by a German sniper at 10:58am.

One of the 60,000 dead from the Great North.

Pacem in Terrem.

Tomorrow I will ask New Yorkers about Armistice Day, which is a national holiday.

I doubt that less than 10% can say why they had a day off from work.

None of them will know Private George Lawrence Price

"As you get old, you forget. As you get older you are forgotten."

But not by me.

I'm a true old git.

End the Endless War.