GI Joe
11-11-2006, 01:20 PM
The "war to end all wars" didn't. But the people who lived through World War I, and gave it that designation, perhaps figured that any conflict that killed 15 million soldiers and civilians would leave a lasting impression.
They also created an annual reminder of that war in Armistice Day - marking the truce that ended four years of battle on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.
Then came World War II and the realization of even greater losses. Armistice Day was changed to Veterans Day.
As the number of people who marked the original holiday dwindles, so, too, do the ranks of those who fought in a war that saw the first widespread use of airplanes, machine guns, tanks, submarines and poison gas.
Today, less than two dozen American World War I veterans are still alive, of the 4.7 million U.S. service members mobilized from 1917-1918. (Some 53,000 died in combat, including 1,023 from Cleveland.)
Ohio's last Doughboy is J. Russell Coffey, 108, of New Baltimore, near Bowling Green, who joined the Army shortly before the Nov. 11 armistice and served for three months before being discharged.
"They're just sort of fading away," said Muriel Sue Kerr, of Virginia, 32-year executive director of the Veterans of World War I.
Many of them, Kerr noted, enlisted for the war, even lying about their age to trade a hard farm or factory life for what they saw as great adventure in an exotic land.
"If you were 15 years old, with only a sixth-grade education, working on a hot farm field in Kansas, and you saw a sign picturing fancy foo-foo girls and saying 'Go to Paris, France, we'll give you a uniform and pay you $17 a month,' how long would it take you to sign up?" she said.
cont
http://www.cleveland.com/veterans/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/isvet/116317260526940.xml&coll=2
They also created an annual reminder of that war in Armistice Day - marking the truce that ended four years of battle on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.
Then came World War II and the realization of even greater losses. Armistice Day was changed to Veterans Day.
As the number of people who marked the original holiday dwindles, so, too, do the ranks of those who fought in a war that saw the first widespread use of airplanes, machine guns, tanks, submarines and poison gas.
Today, less than two dozen American World War I veterans are still alive, of the 4.7 million U.S. service members mobilized from 1917-1918. (Some 53,000 died in combat, including 1,023 from Cleveland.)
Ohio's last Doughboy is J. Russell Coffey, 108, of New Baltimore, near Bowling Green, who joined the Army shortly before the Nov. 11 armistice and served for three months before being discharged.
"They're just sort of fading away," said Muriel Sue Kerr, of Virginia, 32-year executive director of the Veterans of World War I.
Many of them, Kerr noted, enlisted for the war, even lying about their age to trade a hard farm or factory life for what they saw as great adventure in an exotic land.
"If you were 15 years old, with only a sixth-grade education, working on a hot farm field in Kansas, and you saw a sign picturing fancy foo-foo girls and saying 'Go to Paris, France, we'll give you a uniform and pay you $17 a month,' how long would it take you to sign up?" she said.
cont
http://www.cleveland.com/veterans/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/isvet/116317260526940.xml&coll=2