One hundred years ago, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the guns fell silent in No Man’s Land – the end of the “war to end all wars.”

On October 31, 1917, during the Second Battle of Passchendaele, my great-uncle Earle went missing, presumed dead. His body was never found. His brother, Grover, survived the war, returning home in 1918. On a foggy night, eight years later, he and my great-grandfather died when their wooden schooner was sliced in two by a metal-hulled steamer. A family grave marker commemorates both events.

Wooden sailing ships and metal steamers meeting in the fog: an adept analogy for World War One?

Sites I’ve been visiting lately regarding World War One:

the world remembers (a multi-year project to display the names of the dead on buildings through the world)

all is calm (play about the “unofficial” Christmas Day Truce in 1914)

Chinese Labor Corps (WW1)

Over The Top (interactive video game based on experiences of Canadian troops in WW1 from the Canadian War Museum site)

Another of my Remembrance/Veteran’s Day posts on World War One:  Why Canadians Wear Poppies

A story I’ve yet to write: the “what if” part of me who has always speculated that as Great-Uncle Earle’s body (common occurrence in the mud and trenches) was never found, perhaps he DID survive the war and  . . .

Take a moment, today, at 11 o’clock to reflect on this hundredth anniversary, and to hope some day there will be an end to war everywhere. As John Lennon sang: “give peace a chance.”

Image: Mud from the Canadian Archives via Wikipedia