We are approaching the 100 year anniversary of the Armistice that ended World War 1, a war that dismantled four empires and gave birth to new nations. The Great War ended almost five decades of peace in Europe, and put us on the path to the rise of Adolf Hitler and many of today’s challenges in the Middle East. I will be sharing some of my favorite quotes and snippets of interesting information from that time over the next several months.

Today I start with an excerpt from General John “Black Jack” Pershing, Commander of American Expeditionary Forces letter dated November 9, 1917 (source:  My Fellow Soldiers” by Andrew Carroll): 

"I am glad you realize, and I hope all Americans will realize the vastness of our undertaking and the necessity for very loyal support whatever may happen. We are fighting for a cause that made us great as a nation, and we must all stand together."  

Upcoming travel:  France/Normandy and Maine

While reading about Ernest Hemingway's coverage of war, I found this quote from "Papa": 

"The writer's standard of fidelity to the truth should be so high that his invention, out of his experience, should produce a truer account than anything factual can be.  For facts can be observed badly; but when a good writer is creating something, he has time and scope to make of it an absolute truth."  (source:  Hemingway on War and Its Aftermath, National Archives)