I inherited his diary, which I am trying to send to the National Archives if I can get instructions/a contact there. I certainly do not want to just mail it in to anyone. The man was a mean, spoilt old coot, but he had this diary, which I inherited on my father's death (he had kept it until then).
November 11th
Shortly after daylight, we fell in and resumed the march. The rumble of the guns could still be heard very distinctly. About eleven o'clock, two interpreters came down the line toward us. One of them shouted "The War is over". Instantly, a solder shouted back, "Yes, all over Europe"
Chaplain Halliday then came down the column and put all doubts to rest, as eh said an Armistice had actually been signed. There was no shouting, no celebrating and no change of expression on the faces of the men. They could not realize it.
Our direction of march was soon changed, the rumble of artillery could no longer be heard. Reaching what had at one time been the town of Beffu we were halted for the night.
With the coming of night, came also the realization that the war was over. From the piles of pine stakes, stored here by the Germans for future use in the construction of wire entanglements, fires were built; and no one said lights out. Around these fires gathered groups of men. There was little said. The heat from the fire was cheering and man of them sat there until the small hours of morning.
For the first time in months, I took notice of the appearance of the men around me. They did not look like the men I had come to France with. Their faces were gaunt, their eyes seemed sunken and shown with a strange look in them. The firelight perhaps added to the grim look of determination in their faces. Many of them had been boys when they landed in France; now they were men, far older than their years.
Here the Germans, in their sudden retreat, had left a large quantity of flares and flare pistols. Like a group of school boys, the soldiers went hundreds of them into the air. They were of all colors, really beautiful and did not bring down a rain of German shells. THE WAR WAS OVER.
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