Veterans Day 2012. I've posted many photos of my dad from both his Navy and his Army days. To honor today, I'm posting my maternal grandfather, Charles R. Sanborn. This photo is the day he left from the Leete's Island CT train station for the first world war, the "War to End All Wars." He was 29 years old when he enlisted in 1917 and came back from France in early 1920.
From his diary:
August 11, 1918, Front Line Trenches
Under artillery fire today, and me thought, 'twas like a blast of dear
old Beattie's quarry, only I was thinking it seemed a terrible long and
loud blast when a shell whistled by close to my good ear. I'd like to
have changed places with Uncle John Wireless and done "my bit" in some
other branch of the service.
The Great War was barbaric in that it introduced full scale use of machine gun weaponry and chemical toxic agents to either pull back or wipeout the oncoming opponent. The real evil though was that it transformed an unknown bohemian artist into a war mongering lunatic who only loved himself, Hitler.
ReplyDeleteI can tell you were a history major, Woody. I always enjoy your insights. thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteTHANKS FOR SHARING TODAY. JUST MAYBE MY DAD AND YOUR GRANDFATHER CROSS PATHS. WE'LL NEVER KNOW BUT I LIFT MY GLASS TO THEM AND MY BROTHERS AND SISTER LN LAWS'BROTHER WHO WAS SHOT DOWN AT SEA AND NEVER MADE IT HOME OR FOUND.
ReplyDeleteGRANNY
Hi Casey. I love those old military photos. The other day I wondered what they called WWI in the days of WWI. You used a phrase, "the war to end all wars". Is that how they referred to it as it was happening? Calling it WWI seems a bit too prescient.
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Hi Keith! I believe it was called the "Great War" and described as the "war to end all wars" at the time. Yes, it wasn't until WW2 that they referred to the earlier one as WW1. Right at this moment I'm looking at my grandfather's discharge, a large 4-color framed piece, and it has "World War" at the very top. So the phrase was used but without the numeral.
DeleteThen that's it. Thanks!
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