By Jeff Sovelove
Sunday, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the Memorial and Veterans Day Association of Morristown and Morris Township gathered on the Morristown Green to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armistice of World War I
The Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was the first truly global conflict and the first war fought with modern weapons, giving rise to the machine guns, tanks, gas attacks, and trench warfare.
Tanks got their name because the project was so secret that the workers building them thought they were making water tanks, and the name stuck. They inspired terror on the battlefield when they first appeared.
Slideshow photos by Jeff Sovelove:
The Morristown High School buglers started the program by playing the national anthem. James Cavanaugh then introduced Stanley Kasiski, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 112th Field Artillery, for the reading of the names of the 26 Morris area residents killed in WWI.
The honor guard from the 3rd Battalion, 112th Field Artillery fired a salute, as the Morristown High School Buglers played Taps.
After an introduction by Mayors Tim Dougherty of Morristown and Peter Mancuso of Morris Township, Dr. Elizabeth M. Norman, PhD, spoke about the extraordinary contributions women made to World War II.
Seventy nurses were captured when the Japanese captured the Philippines, and through their amazing courage and persistence, all 70 lived to be rescued from the civilian internment camp where they had been held.
Re-enactors dressed in uniform showed off some of the equipment used in the war, including gas masks, a trench knife, and various rifles used on all sides — reminders that those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it.
