Came Armistice Day, and as 11 o'clock ran around the world the former Allied peoples gave themselves up to two minutes of silence; for it was on that day nine years ago, that the truce was signed in a brown railroad car of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits in the Forest of Compiegne.
Former enemy peoples gave no thought to the occasion, made no beau geste to the memory of the millions they killed and maimed, showed no contriteness for the anguish and sufferings they caused to tens of millions of people throughout the length and breadth of the world. Neither did they heed the ninth anniversary of the end of their own Wartime sufferings; the bitterness of defeat lay heavily upon them.
U. S. From coast to coast and frontier to frontier the U. S. people hallowed the memory of their 126,000 War dead. In the national Valhalla at Arlington a granite Cross of Sacrifice was dedicated by Canada to those U. S. soldiers who lost their lives while fighting with the Canadian Expeditionary forces. The great cross, 30 feet in height was unveiled by Vincent Massey, Canadian Minister to the U. S., and accepted by Frank Billings Kellogg, U. S. Secretary of State, in a moving ceremony. Many dignitaries were present.
After mournful trumpetings of the "Last Post," the formal speeches of gift and receipt were made and the 48th Highlanders of Canada, in their feathered bonnets, red doublets, tartan kilts and leopard skins, wailed on their bagpipes their famed "Lament," which begins: "Flowers of the forest are wede awa'. . . ."
Then U. S. Secretary of War Dwight Filley Davis made a speech. Excerpts:
"The beauty of this cross is significant of the high motives which actuate this occasion, but marble [an error, it was granite] alone could not express the warm friendship and sympathetic understanding which are brought to us by these distinguished representatives of the Dominion. . . . Many of us imagine that the long peace that has existed between us is due to a treaty now nearly 110 years old for disarmament upon the Great Lakes. That peace is due not to the treaty but to the spirit that led to the treaty; it is due not to a formal bond of agreement but to the closer bonds of friendship.
"Canadians and Americans speak the same language, read the same books, think the same thoughts. Jointly they occupy the largest area of the earth's surface where a single language is spoken. . . .
"This monument will always be a source of pride to the citizens of the United States. It shall constantly remind us of the friendship and cordiality extending along our northern boundary, guarded only by the common love of liberty and justice in the hearts of the people of both Canada and the United States."
Next Colonel J. L. Ralston, Canadian Minister of National Defense, addressed the listeners. Excerpts:
"Every feature of this event deepens its significance. The day, with its never-to-be-forgotten memories; the place, with its wealth of historic and solemn associations, . and, above all, our purpose to do honor to those who, though dead, yet speak.