Eleventh Day, Eleventh Month, Eleventh Hour, Armistice

It has been a long time since the Armistice was signed in 1918. My mother, Susie Latty Day, was a little girl at the time but she remembered it vividly, always, and what a time of rejoicing it was. This was The Great War, the War to End All Wars, the world would be at peace and there’d be no more fightings and bombings and dying. But, in that innocent time, how wrong they were! The following is a story my mother told me. These are her words and they are recorded in the book, Remembering Etta Bend.

On the surface, Etta Bend lay as calm and peaceful as the river, but an undercurrent of fear filled our days. The United States was at war.

Papa and many other men, too old to go to war, joined the Home Guard. These men drilled in defense tactics just in case the enemy invaded American soil. Papa’s discharge from that branch is dated January 18, 1919. 

Alice had married and her husband, Charlie Vanderpool, was in the army. Alice continued to live with us while Charlie was away.

I was scared to death of German spies. Our dear old friend, Granny Bohannon, was staying with us. Her tales of Bushwhackers from the Civil War were fresh in my mind. Granny had lived through that terrifying time. One night, I sat dreamily drumming my fingers across the safe in the dining room as Granny went on and on about the terrors of the Civil War in general and bushwhackers in particular. I did not see Alice lay her dish towel across the rack and slip out of the house through the front door.

Suddenly, from the corner of my eye, I saw a long, round something slide across the back screen door. My breath caught in my throat. It was a gun and the enemy was upon us!

“German spies! German spies!” I yelled, knocking over my chair and bolting for the living room.

Papa grabbed his rifle from its place over the front door and sprinted to the dining room. Grandma Bohannon, though nearly deaf, had no trouble hearing me. She dashed into the living room, right behind me. Georgia and Henry clung to Mama while she tried to shush me.

Alice had been unable to get back into the house through the kitchen because I had locked the screen earlier. She hurried around the house, came in through the front door, and found the family in an uproar. She had only meant to play a joke on me. She had no idea I would think the broom handle was a gun, but I did, and thought we were all about to be killed. It was only in later years I found this episode funny. It sure wasn’t funny then, but my family never let me forget when I thought the enemy had landed and German spies were at the back door.

Finally, November 11, 1918 brought an end to our anxieties. Charlie was waiting for orders to go overseas when the war ended. We valued peace and freedom more than ever. Never again would we take them for granted.

 

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My respect and gratitude go to all the men who have fought to keep their homeland safe. The picture is of Dad’s brother, my Uncle Everett Day in his WWI uniform. More recently, my husband Wes Manos was in the United States Army. My brothers Thurman, Tracy, and Richard Day served in the United States Navy. My nephew Clint Day was in the Marines. My hat is off to them all.

World War I Soldiers

War I Songs