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.

Taking A Friend Home

On the evening of April 15, 1912 the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage across the North Atlantic.

The unsinkable White Star ocean liner sank three hours later.

Only 20% of the passenger and crew survived the disaster.

According to the Bowdoin online magazine one of casualty was Richard White and his classmate and fraternity brother, Frank Arthur Smith, spent his thirtieth birthday in Halifax, Nova Scotia. My grandfather's trip was not for pleasure. The families of the Titanic passengers had been informed that the bodies of hundreds of the victims had been recovered and transported by a steamer to Halifax for identification and the Bowdoin senior traveled to Nova Scotia on behalf of the White family, who hoped to recover the bodies of both Richard and his father, Percival. Frank waited anxiously at the Halifax Hotel for several days before receiving a telegram from his friend's wife.

“Richard’s body reportedly found[.] better return with it at once... look sharp for my brothers body[.] wire me fully as soon as you can.”

What was thought to be Richard’s body was found clad in a brown suit, wearing white shoes. The man had fair hair and seemed to be carrying Richard’s effects, but the estimated age was listed as thirty-seven. Richard was only twenty-one. Bowdoin sent measurements taken during Richard’s last physical to assist officials in identifying the body.

Finally, after several delays, the steamer arrived in Halifax where the bodies of the first-class passengers were taken to a make- shift morgue in the city’s curling rink. The corpses of second- and third-class passengers and crew had been sewn into canvas bags to dumped into ocean before the survivors, who “cannot forget the cry of tortured humanity, facing its death in cold and darkness, despairing, a shrill chorus that carried despair across the quiet starlit waters.”

Frank A. Smith was taken to view body number 169. The remains were so battered, so ravaged that it was understandable that the body had been thought to be sixteen years older. Richard’s possessions fared better. He had a gold watch, keys, a bloodstone ring, and his Delta Kappa epsilon fraternity pin.

After positively identifying the body, Frank A. Smith inquired about Percival White with officials and checked among the other passengers yet to be identified. There were no bodies matching his description and it was assumed that Richard’s father was lost at sea.

Frank saw that the coffin was sealed and prepared for travel.

In Portland he met members of the White family.

Richard’s remains were then transported to Winchendon, Massachusetts, and were interred in a private ceremony on May 2.

Frank A. Smith was my grandfather.

He served in WWI as a dcotor.

He married my grandmother Edith.

Sadly he died several months before my birth.

This story was told me by my father.

No one in my family believed it until now.

Then again all stories are true, if interesting.