It truly is sad that so few today know of the courage, endurance, dedication, sacrifice and horrors experienced by the soldiers of WW1. There has been an endless industry in films and documentaries of WW2, and those veteran's stories surely deserve to be told.
However, in some ways, I believe the soldiers of WW1 endured an especially horrific Hell. Theirs was the knee-deep mud and water in the trenches, the bitter cold and damp, the ever-present rats and decaying dead bodies, gas warfare, primitive sanitation and medical care, lack of transport, and unrelenting shelling on a scale barely imaginable. They stoically endured the never-ending, daily deaths of friends from ever-present sniping and trench raids, along with the knowledge of their own, near-certain deaths when orders were given to go "over the top" against machine guns over open ground.
Sadly, today the incredible casualties they suffered in single battles are largely unknown and thus unappreciated by far too many who are otherwise knowledgeable about WW2 and war in general.
I wish that the sacrifices of the WW1 soldiers could or would be memorialized and made familiar to the general populace in the way that those of WW2 and later wars have been. Certainly these men have earned a prominent place in the collective memory of our civilization, and what they endured gives even more meaning to the idea of a "War to End All Wars."
For those who have an interest in the conditions of trench warfare, the book "Eye Deep in Hell" offers some good insights. The renowned War Poet Lt. William Owen, killed in action just 1 week before the Armistice, described some of the horrors he'd seen in a way that makes them especially vivid.
As a boy, my father (born 1921) was with family members getting ready for a day of quail hunting on the back porch of a farmhouse when a field rat ran across the porch. His uncle, who was a greatly-respected veteran of much combat in WW1 as a machine gun company commander, was caught by surprise and reflexively shrieked in terror and jumped up on a table at the sight. Sadly, PTSD was virtually unknown back then (as "shell shock") and he was teased about his reaction by the other adults present.
It wasn't until my Dad, himself an infantryman in WW2, was in his 80's that I heard that story. I was able to put it into context by recounting some of the horrific experiences his uncle had probably encountered in the trenches with the ever-present rats that multiplied and grew fat on the dead bodies of men and horses. He then understood, and was very sorry that his uncle had been teased... many decades after his passing, of course.
As we approach Veteran's Day (originally Armistice Day), please make time for a special remembrance and celebration of the men of WW1. Among all the rest, they have certainly earned our lasting respect and appreciation, as they exemplified the time-honored, soldierly virtues of Duty, Honor and Country.
Respectfully,
John
