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November 11, 2010 Was the Last Armistice Day

[ 41 ] November 11, 2011 | Robert Farley

Now that the last combat veterans of World War I have passed, I’m ok with Veterans Day. Thanks to all those who have served.

Comments (41)

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  1. Malaclypse says:
    November 11, 2011 at 8:09 am

    Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
    Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
    Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
    And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
    Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
    But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
    Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
    Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

    Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling,
    Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
    But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
    And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime…
    Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
    As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

    In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
    He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

    If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
    Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
    And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
    His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
    If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
    Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
    Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
    Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
    My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
    To children ardent for some desperate glory,
    The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
    Pro patria mori.

    And I respectfully disagree: remembering that there was a time the guns fell silent will always be worth remembering. Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans’ day is not.

    Reply
    • efgoldman says:
      November 11, 2011 at 8:19 am

      Thank you, Mal.
      Is the poem original? I feel as if I should know it.

      The problem with Veteran’s Day is that it has been conflated with Memorial Day in May. So, on both days, our media are full of honor for the veterans and remembrances of the dead. These are both worthwhile remembrances, but they are not the same thing. A pet peeve of mrs efgoldman’s by the way, who spends much of each of the two days yelling at the TV.

      Reply
      • Malaclypse says:
        November 11, 2011 at 8:21 am

        Is the poem original? I feel as if I should know it.

        Wilfred Owen.

        These are both worthwhile remembrances, but they are not the same thing.

        Last year’s thread on this topic is worth a re-read.

        Reply
        • mark f says:
          November 11, 2011 at 9:06 am

          Worth reading, or listening to, every year.

          Reply
        • mark f says:
          November 11, 2011 at 9:25 am

          Last year’s thread on this topic is worth a re-read.

          Here’s what some joker said:

          Modern American culture does nothing but valorize the military/support the troops. I won’t disagree that these are empty slogans, but we are bombarded with messages to support the military, to an extent that I’d argue it is deeply unhealthy.

          Armistice Day is remembering that war is always an atrocity. It is never a video game. War is not about America kicking ass, it is death and blood and butchery and horror. Remembering that fact, making it concrete, is the best “support” that we can give to individual soldiers.

          I think I’ll steal that to post on my FB page at 11 a.m. It will gain me about two dozen fewer Likes than a picture of a silouette saluting a bald eagle would.

          Reply
        • efgoldman says:
          November 11, 2011 at 9:47 am

          I was at the Boston premiere of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem in 1963. (The US premiere was at Tanglewood.) I had never heard of Wilfred Owen before that; several of his poems were used by Britten. A great, powerful, shattering piece. Hearing it live, at 18…

          Reply
  2. c u n d gulag says:
    November 11, 2011 at 8:21 am

    The 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month, was to signal the end of “The War to End All Wars.”

    A tad over-optimistic, weren’t they?

    And yes, thank you to all of the veterans who’ve served.

    But when will we have a day for all of the civilians who were wounded and killed, and who wanted no part of any of the wars (not that all of the vet’s did)?

    What about the civilians who died around Flanders Field?
    Or were killed, wounded, or displaced by the armies gathering at The Battle of the Somme?
    Or the families around Stalingrad, like my mothers, who lost family members and had to go through Hitler Camps, and then the Displaced People Camps, before they found that after 10 years of war and wandering, they were going to America, ‘the Promised Land,’ instead of back to the USSR and certain death.
    The people of Korea?
    And Vietnam?
    And Iraq?
    And the countless other wars that we weren’t directly involved in?

    I’d like to see a “Civilians in War Day.” A day to remember the people who went through the horrors of war every bit as terrible as those with uniforms and dog-tags.

    Just another Liberal’s pipe-dream!

    Reply
  3. actor212 says:
    November 11, 2011 at 9:04 am

    Amen, and may we treat our latest vets with the same pride and consideration that we treat our older vets.

    Sadly, not going to happen.

    Just like Republicans will honor fetuses until they become babies, Republicans honor soldiers until the fighting stops.

    Reply
  4. Jude says:
    November 11, 2011 at 10:30 am

    That’s all I want to say.

    Reply
  5. Bill Murray says:
    November 11, 2011 at 10:54 am

    Aftermath — Siegfried Sassoon

    Have you forgotten yet?…
    For the world’s events have rumbled on since those gagged days,
    Like traffic checked a while at the crossing of city ways:
    And the haunted gap in your mind has filled with thoughts that flow
    Like clouds in the lit heavens of life; and you’re a man reprieved to go,
    Taking your peaceful share of Time, with joy to spare.
    But the past is just the same—and War’s a bloody game…
    Have you forgotten yet?…
    Look down, and swear by the slain of the War that you’ll never forget.

    Do you remember the dark months you held the sector at Mametz—
    The nights you watched and wired and dug and piled sandbags on parapets?
    Do you remember the rats; and the stench
    Of corpses rotting in front of the front-line trench—
    And dawn coming, dirty-white, and chill with a hopeless rain?
    Do you ever stop and ask, ‘Is it all going to happen again?’

    Do you remember that hour of din before the attack—
    And the anger, the blind compassion that seized and shook you then
    As you peered at the doomed and haggard faces of your men?
    Do you remember the stretcher-cases lurching back
    With dying eyes and lolling heads—those ashen-gray
    Masks of the lads who once were keen and kind and gay?

    Have you forgotten yet?…
    Look up, and swear by the slain of the war that you’ll never forget!

    Reply
  6. pete says:
    November 11, 2011 at 11:43 am

    WWI was unique. Most wars make some kind of geopolitical sense, on someone’s terms, but it’s a real stretch to apply that to the fcking Somme. WWI was a nightmare, and a stain on history, whose effect on the next century of Europe cannot be overestimated. Most Americans, for obvious reasons, focus on the last 18 months, when the stalemate got broken. The first three years are much more important. And horrifying. And important to remember.

    Reply
    • dave says:
      November 11, 2011 at 2:12 pm

      The First World War was entirely necessary. Without it [and its sequel, which was umbilically connected to it], western societies would probably never have figured out that imperialism and nationalism aren’t worth sending millions of people to die for.*

      In that sense, it’s like the lung cancer that kills your father. Without it, you never would have given up smoking.

      [* I say 'western societies'. I mean most western societies, of course...]

      Reply
  7. Invigilator says:
    November 11, 2011 at 12:14 pm

    Armistice Day is also a day to remember that victory in war means little without an effective peace.

    Reply
  8. wiley says:
    November 11, 2011 at 12:31 pm

    Last December I watched All Quiet on the Western Front for the first time. It was surprising to me how vivid the battle scenes were. It kind of made me think I might understand why WW II involved the development of so many new weapons—to avoid trench warfare wherever and whenever possible. There was a really harrowing scene, that I am thinking was historically accurate. Of course, it had every message every war movie ever had about the horrors of war, and tried unsuccessfully to discourage young men from reveling in it and hoping for their chance to fight. That and Johnny Got His Gun are the only movies I know of about WW I. It seems that WW II got all the glory. I think I’ll watch Johnny Got His Gun tonight. We got our copy before the ban was lifted. Life is strange.

    Reply
  9. Auguste says:
    November 11, 2011 at 12:55 pm

    It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.

    Reply
  10. Fighting Words says:
    November 11, 2011 at 1:01 pm

    11/11/11

    Happy Nigel Tufnel Day!

    Reply
  11. Ed says:
    November 11, 2011 at 1:19 pm

    Of course, it had every message every war movie ever had about the horrors of war, and tried unsuccessfully to discourage young men from reveling in it and hoping for their chance to fight.

    It’s always been okay to make antiwar movies about WWI. It’s not a Good War. When Paul Fussell wrote about idiotic blunders, pointless death, and the damage propaganda did to the national life and brain in WWI, it was fine. When he wrote about similar things during WWII,everyone started clutching their pearls. Can’t say that stuff about a Good War.

    Reply
  12. Malaclypse says:
    November 11, 2011 at 1:37 pm

    What we lost when Armistice Day ended

    Reply
  13. gmack says:
    November 11, 2011 at 4:18 pm

    Interestingly, one of my students came to class today with a poppy pinned to his jacket, which provided an excellent segue into a discussion of historical memory, the meaning of “Veteran’s Day” vs. “Remembrance Day,” etc.

    Reply
  14. Simple mind says:
    November 11, 2011 at 7:45 pm

    So Veterans’ Day is Living Veterans’ Day and Memorial Day is Dead Veterans’ Day?

    Reply
  15. The Blog Post to End All Blog Posts: 1 of 2 | Forex news says:
    November 11, 2011 at 9:12 pm

    [...] this Armistice Veteran’s Day, let’s try to do a counterfactual and Make Brad DeLong [...]

    Reply
  16. sam240 says:
    November 12, 2011 at 2:50 pm

    There’s still one WWI veteran left:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Green

    “But year after year their numbers get fewer
    Some day no one will march there at all”

    Reply
  17. The Blog Post to End All Blog Posts: 1 of 2 | Insurance says:
    November 13, 2011 at 11:45 am

    [...] this Armistice Veteran’s Day, let’s try to do a counterfactual and Make Brad DeLong [...]

    Reply

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