November 12, 2019 (Tuesday)
Yesterday was Veteran’s Day. For many years it was Armistice Day, celebrating the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11month, of the year 1918, on which the Armistice was signed that ended the first World War. The day before, a cablegram was sent from Europe to Nova Scotia with an announcement that the armistice would be signed, ending the war, on the next day, November 11, 1918.
The formal end of the Great War came with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in June, 1919.
Yesterday, November 11, is the anniversary of the day the war ended, a day on which at least 11,000 people died. It’s hard to shut down a war.
In a plane in 1967, I sat beside a Japanese gentleman, Mister Hasime Onishi, who was a petroleum buyer and a frequent traveler. We had a long trip, so we talked a lot. He told me he had flown the surrender plane at the end of WW2. The diplomats boarded his aircraft, painted so as to be recognized, in Tokyo, and they flew to Manilla for negotiations. The plane was refueled by Americans on an island near Okinawa. On the way back to Tokyo, they stopped again to refuel. Everyone was nervous; the war was still going on. There was a mixup about litres and gallons, and therefore their plane ran out of fuel as it approached Tokyo on the return flight. It crashed in Sagami Bay. When dawn came, the survivors were met by the sight of machine guns trained on them by Japanese soldiers on the shore. According to Mister Onishi, the final settlement of surrender was delayed 24 hours because of that.
Just like the formal surrender ceremony of World War I, the public ceremonies ending World War II came later aboard the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
Those must have been very busy days in 1918 in the seats of government around the world, especially in those nations that did the fighting. Finally, the last shot was fired. Probably after November 11.
Let us all pray that there will be no more wars.
At the close of each Tuesday blog I will write about the presidents, in the order of their service.
Today’s president is
William Henry Harrison – The 9th President