This is one of the American cemeteries at the Marne area battlefields in France. Hundreds of thousands of men died here, on all sides, in 1916. The novelist Paul Dutourd noted that before 1918 there were no war cemeteries in France. Afterward they were everywhere. It was all supposed to end today, at eleven in the morning. Forever.
In America we began with a remembrance of The Armistice. After some years, there was of course more evil. More battles. More cemeteries. We finally changed it to a day to remember the valor and sacrifice of all Veterans. Which, even for people with a particular interest in World War I, is probably a good thing. It keeps us reminded that the sacrifices of World War I, World War II, and all the rest, are part of a continuum. A line which we can all at least pray will one day reach its end.
I am rather proud of my previous Armistice/Veterans Day posts. You can find last year's here.
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