Memories of Charlton County - by Gibson and Mays Back to Table of Contents 36. THE FIRST ARMISTICE DAY (Pp 73-74) On the last day of fighting in World
War One, a messenger on a motorcycle came to the front lines and told us the war would end and the last shot would be fired at 11:00 that night. We all just went wild, hollering and shouting. We were in an oak thicket very close to enemy territory and that night we listened for the last shot at 11:00. We heard it and then everything got very, very quiet, and we didn't hear any more guns going off. As soon as it sunk in that the war was really over, we sang and hollered and shouted till we
were hoarse. For months we hadn't been allowed to strike a match after dark because the enemy was so close, but after 11:00 that night we all lit up cigarettes and every one of the men built a bonfire. Each man had a separate fire and the woods were lit up all around with the light of them. They did that just for the joy of being able to have a light after the sun went down. I thought I would be going home as soon as the Armistice was signed but instead
of that our regiment followed the German army all the way back to its homeland and we stayed there for more than seven months. After spending eighteen months of wartime duty without sleeping on a bed, a buddy and I suddenly found our chance for a good night's rest. We were following the retreating German army through Belgium and Luxemburg and one evening the rolling kitchen was parked near a house that had been completely deserted. We picked out a nice bed in one of the
bedrooms but after spending so many nights on uncomfortable cots and the cold ground, we both found we couldn't sleep on the soft bed and we spent a miserable night there. After I got back to the United States I spent a week on Long Island and paraded with other Marines for a hundred blocks in 'New York City, with President Woodrow Wilson watching us from the reviewing stand. Thousands and thousands of people lined the streets to watch us go by. I was
discharged in 1919 and rode the train to Folkston. Jess Brooks was the first person I saw at the depot when I got back and the next one was Donald Pearce who took me home in his car. My family didn't know when I would be getting back and Papa was the only one at home, He was sitting in the porch swing all by himself for Mama was visiting her folks in Waycross. He was so glad to have me back home that he wired a telegram to Mama telling her to hurry back to Folkston to see me! | 
