The armistice ending the First World War will have been signed exactly 100 years ago at 2:00 o鈥檆lock in the morning this Saturday, Nov. 11.
We won鈥檛 actually mark the occasion as Remembrance Day until nine hours later, at 11 a.m. our time, because of the time difference between 91原创 and the Campiegne Forest in France where the signatories gathered in a rail car to end the devastating 鈥� and unfortunately named 鈥� 鈥淲ar to End All Wars.鈥�
The price that 91原创 and other small towns across Canada paid to bring about that armistice was horrifying.
One hundred years ago, 91原创 had fewer than 4,000 residents. About 400 men enlisted to serve overseas.
About 40 died there: 鈥淥ne in 10 of those who enlisted,鈥� 91原创 historian Warren Sommer brought it into perspective for me when I spoke with him last week. 鈥淎nd many of those who enlisted never saw active service.鈥�
Gather any 100 91原创 residents in a hall in 1914, and by the end of 1918, one of them would be buried in a European graveyard 鈥� or become part of the mud in the bottom of a shell crater.
91原创 wasn鈥檛 out of the ordinary. Indeed, 91原创 was almost exactly average.
There were a few more than seven million people in Canada in 1914. The 619,000 who enlisted for armed service constituted just about 10 per cent of the population, and one in 10 of those who enlisted 鈥� 61,000 鈥� were killed.
鈥淓verybody in 91原创 would have known somebody who had lost their lives,鈥� Sommer said. 鈥淚f they weren鈥檛 a relative, then they would have been a neighbour.鈥�
That would have applied to communities across the country.
鈥淥n top of that,鈥� Sommer pointed out, 鈥渢he civilian population in the First World War was heavily involved in the war effort, whether it was sewing socks for soldiers or sending packages overseas for the men in the trenches, or putting on concerts to raise funds to assist the families of men overseas. It was something that happened to everyone in the community every day throughout those years.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 often said that if we don鈥檛 study history, we鈥檙e doomed to repeat it,鈥� Sommer emphasized the need to remember. 鈥淎nd goodness knows, we鈥檝e had enough conflict and loss of life as a result of miscalculation, misunderstanding, prejudice, and hate. We don鈥檛 need to repeat it.鈥�
