Veterans' Day, the Armistice

        Nov 11, 1918, the signing of the Armistice, brought to an end World War I. When General John J. (Black Jack)Pershing of the US Army undertook the Meuse-Argonne offensive the objective was to cut the German railroad lines feeding the Western Front. The battle lasted 47 days and engaged 1,200,000 American troops. The heavy fighting in the Argonne Forest resulted in those killed and wounded being 10% of the total, a huge amount. As a result of this endeavor the end of the war was in sight. The Germans and their allies had finally had enough.

            At the time of the peace signing these years of conflict, 1914-1918, were called “the war to end all wars.” For two and a half years the battle was waged  in Europe. On one side were the Central Powers: Germany and Austria-Hungary and later Turkey and Bulgaria. On the other side were the Allied Powers: France, Britain, Russia and later, Italy. America's leaders attempted to stay out of the mammoth squabble. In the spring of 1917 US President Woodrow Wilson, a man known for his desire for peace, declared us in, another ally to the Allied Powers.

           It took months to raise the United States Army. Men across the nation were required to register for the draft. Training, housing, outfitting, transporting across an ocean did not happen overnight.  So far I have only read the draft card of my maternal grandfather, an immigrant from Sweden. I am sure that there were  many more in my family lines since the other ancestral side had been in this country since the 1600's in New England, Virginia, North Carolina.

           I honor this day, Nov 11, because it is the day set aside to think, to consider those possibilities of what my life might be like had not others over the generations chosen to do their part to keep this country free and to offer these freedoms to other countries. WWI was not the end of war in any way, the Armistice just offered a break for our world before another began.

         I admire a dear friend who was part of taking the beach in Anzio, Italy, in WWII. My husband's uncle has a grave site in Manila, the Philippines, losing his life in an air-battle in the Pacific Theater of that war. My genealogical research has informed me of a British cousin who served in the RAF during the time of the Blitz across the ocean. Other Brit relatives share how life was for them during that horrendous time.

           Wars continued, lives lost, with often not many years between hot spots warring throughout the globe. I remember how I felt when the news came that an older cousin had been killed by a sniper's bullet in the Korean Conflict. My husband was trained and served as a medic in between Korea and Vietnam. Friends, neighbors, relatives have been part of the Vietnam War.

          Genealogical research has shown me ancestors who were part of the Civil War in this nation. Some even came from those with the Quaker beliefs, feeling that as citizens of this country there is an obligation. I have records of a great great great great great (5x) grandfather who was a lieutenant in the Revolutionary War. I am sure there was more than this one ancestor of that time period involved. All of these warriors provided something that helped to make my life what it is today. I am grateful to them, and for others like them, in this country and abroad. Freedom is a priceless commodity.

The Seasons

        I am a person who still enjoys living where there are 4 seasons.  Around here it has been fall as usual, putting up apple juice, drying, did some great apple syrup, jelly, pie in a bottle. Plums were plentiful, both wild and domestic varieties. Grass kept growing, always needing mowed, weeds doing well. Garden, tomatoes, have been good this year, perhaps a little small in size this year.  

         For some reason, not complaining, the box elder bugs have been less this fall.  Generally they are covering the southeast side of our house and getting in every crevice and open spot they can find.  It has been nice to have their reduced amount, would that it could last for a few years.  The wasps, too, have not been as obnoxious or thick.  I am sure a farmers almanac could answer these wonderings of mine.

     It has been a strange fall season.  Nice temperatures longer than usual.  The hay fields busy growing a 4th crop weeks after the haying equipment has been cleaned up and put to rest in the shed.  Leaves staying green, along with the grass and the fields.  Deer out munching on the fresh alfalfa instead of raiding the storage in the barn.

      Now, November, the leaves have finally come down.  The whole community is carpeted with yellow and gold.  We have had quite a bit of rain, but no snow until the end of last week, and then it was only a skiff.  The first morning the white clung to the roofs, the fence posts, the upper side of the orchard branches, but the ground was too warm and no white appeared.  The next day the skiff arrived, but gone by noon easily.  Our mountaintops are staying white but the snow line didn't move down until last night.   

         Dark comes early now with Daylight Savings Time taking a rest.  With the dark came big feathery flakes, floating earthward.  They kept coming until everything was covered nicely and then the silence reigned, adding to the feeling of softness.  It is time for the change of the season, time for the flakes to fall and nourish the ground.  Not an easy season for man and beast, domestic or wild, but one that should be welcomed.  It is all part of the plan of our existence.