Sunday, November 11, 2018

November 11, 1918






Today marks the 100th anniversary of the ending of the First World War.

My grandfather, Edward McNamara from Lexington Massachusetts served with the 101st Regiment (Medical company), 26th Yankee Division in the first world war.  He seldom talked about it, and when he did it was a terrible memory which haunted him.  But  I will always remember his smile when he told me how at 11:00 A.M. on 11th November the guns stopped and he and his friends knew they would live, knew they had survived.  

And as this date is now called Veterans Day I say thank you to my father in law, Aldrich Stevens  who served in the  3rd Ranger Battalion (Darby's Rangers) in the Second World War.  He joined the Rangers in North Africa, and took part in the invasion of both Sicily and Italy.  He could not take part in the Anzio  landing because of his wounds so missed the Battle of Cisterna.  Like my grandfather he too was haunted by the memories of what he saw, experienced and especialy those he lost.   

I remember their sacrifices and hope both have found peace.

3 comments:

  1. We stand on the shoulders of giants...

    But sadly I still think we are lead by donkeys...

    All the best. Aly.

    ReplyDelete
  2. A worthy tribute to so many who sacrificed so much.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice post Mark - I suspect WW! is not such a big deal on the national psyche in the US as it is in Europe and the Commonwealth, but without the extra manpower to compensate for the Russians who had left in 1917, maybe it would have gone on another year or two.....

    ReplyDelete