Happy Veterans Day!

Today also marks the 90th anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I. I know I shouldn't be, but I'm often surprised at how little people know about World War I, or as it was called at the the time, "the Great War" and the "war to end all wars." Yeah, that didn't happen, but it was the most horrific battlefield ever witnessed in modern times (at the time).

I was shocked to learn that the armistice was planned for weeks and they waited to sign it because the powers that be thought it would be interesting to end the war on 11/11 at 11AM. Thousands of men died that morning in battle trying to take one more hill here and there, even though the armistice was a forgone conclusion. A couple hundred of them had been in France since the first battles of the war and managed to survive until dying on the last day.

World War I fascinates me, it bridges the gap between the Industrial Age (or Gilded Age) and more modern times with which we easily identify. Horses, airplanes, tanks, machine guns, and poisonous gases were all used in World War I. In fact, all but horses were new to warfare and caused a stalemate for four years. The new concept of trench warfare and No Man's Land covered in mines and barbed wire didn't help the stalemate much. The war wiped out an entire generation of men in Europe, which left them vulnerable twenty years later during World War II.

Alright, enough with the history lesson. I'm so pleased that Veterans Day falls on the end of World War I and I know this date was chosen to honor our vets for that very reason. They sacrifice more for our country than I will ever fully know!