Armistice Day 1924 and 1938

One hundred years ago today, World War I had ended a mere six years earlier, and Lorain – and the rest of the world – was observing Armistice Day. Then as now, the Armistice is commemorated at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

Above is the front page of the November 11, 1924, Lorain Journal. As you can see, there is no special header or graphics in honor of the observance.

Under the heading "Nation Turns Back Pages of History," the report from Washington, D. C., notes, "The nation today turned its thoughts back six years to another Armistice Day and paid reverent homage to those who gave their lives on the altar of history.

"Throughout the country memorial services for the dead were held, and patriotic exercises, parades, and other ceremonies appropriately observed the day.

"Two shrines here received thousands of visitors – the tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington and the chapel beneath which lies Woodrow Wilson, war time president.

"President Coolidge led the observance with a pilgrimage to Arlington to pay simple tribute to the Unknown warrior who symbolizes the nation's war lead by laying a wreath on his tomb.

"Congress may be asked in December to take up the matter of declaring Armistice Day a holiday, it appeared here today following President Coolidges's decision that he has no authority to order work stopped in government departments on that day."

(Armistice Day would not become a legal holiday until 1938. And after World War II, November 11th was changed to Veterans Day in June 1954 to honor American Veterans of all wars.)

But getting back to Armistice Day 1924.

In Lorain, according to the article entitled, "Armistice Day is Observed by Vets," Lorain's ex-service men, officials, citizens and school children today joined in observing Armistice Day and the sixth anniversary of the end of the World War.

"Lorain Post, No. 45, American Legion, will hold a military ball at Hotel Antlers this evening. 

"Mullen-Murray Post No. 451, Lorain Veterans of Foreign Wars, J. J. Misco, Commander, will celebrate Armistice Day with a military ball held at the H. and R. dance hall this evening. Carr's orchestra will play."

United Press Staff Correspondent Webb Miller contributed a report from 'the old American battlefront' in which he directly addressed the veterans who fought in the War. "Probably, sometimes today, your thoughts will turn backwards to that day six years ago, with a tug at the heartstrings for the Buddies left behind under the little white crosses and undoubtedly with a strange incomprehensible twinge of homesickness, or whatever that feeling is," he wrote.

"But it is a safe bet that you would not recognize today most of the smashed, deserted villages you marched thru those last few days, chasing the Boche back out of the Argonne. The peasants have come back – about 80 percent of them – and have cobbled up the ruins or rebuilt them and are today busy spreading fertilizer in the fields for the spring crops. Many villages were wiped out and never will be rebuilt. They are only memories, or names on the old war maps."

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Twenty years after World War I ended, with another world war conflict brewing, the November 11, 1938 front page of the Lorain Journal included one article about the observance, entitled "Anxious World Marks 20th Armistice Day."

"Lorain paused today with an anxious world to reflect on peace and disillusionment on Armistice day, 1938 – 20 years after the "war to end war."

"The 11 a. m. hour of the Armistice passed in the schools without the two-minute period of silence observed in former years. All schools, however, had special Armistice day programs this morning. At Lorain High school, a movie depicted horrors of future wars."

The Journal editorial page contained a special message from the Editor, as well as a commemorative artwork by cartoonist Vernon Greene.