Imagine being with the U.S. Army during World War I. It is November, 1918. You and your regiment are under orders to attack the city of Metz in France to oust the enemy German army. As you march toward the city everyone has the fear of the battle to come. You prepare for the fight using your training.
But suddenly your concentration is disturbed when you hear a commotion and some talking coming from behind you. You hear fellow soldiers saying “Armistice, Armistice.” It gets louder until everyone realizes what is happening. An Armistice signed by the U.S/Allies and Germany has just ended the war.
It would be the greatest feeling to go from war to peace in seconds. That’s exactly the joyous moment American soldiers had as they were marching to battle only to be stopped because of receiving news of the Armistice of November 11, 1918.
“We just stopped marching then and there” said Staff Sgt. Paul N. Hill of Norton, KS describing what happened to the New York Times.
The fighting of World War One came to an end at 11 a.m. on November 11, 1918.
That is how Armistice Day (Veterans Day) came to be. It’s a day to pray for peace and honor our soldiers who have sacrificed to try and win a lasting peace. That was indeed the great hope of the Armistice, that there would be no more wars.
Very tragically some of the men who were at war in 1918 were again fighting in the same part of France during World War II.
On Armistice Day in 1946 soldiers from both World War I and World War II gathered together to pray for peace at Madison Square Park in New York. Speaker Vincent Impellitteri said everyone could make a difference in the pursuit of global peace.
We can learn a lot from our veterans on how to build peace.
In Germany after World War II among the first humanitarian aid operations were started by U.S. soldiers. The Rev. James Hoban of Catholic Relief Services went to post-war Germany as part of a survey team to see how bad the food shortages were. They saw American soldiers starting their own programs to feed hungry children.
“The soldiers had not long resisted the call of compassion. Soon their hands were furtively reaching out with bread and chocolate to children whose pinched white faces were everywhere around them” wrote Eileen Egan, who was an author with Catholic Relief Services.
With children suffering in hunger, there was no question what the right thing to do was. Our veterans, who witnessed the horror of war and hunger, often set up their own child feeding programs before regular aid would arrive.
My father, Vincent, who was with the Army during WWII, told of how their mess halls in Europe regularly gave out food to the hungry kids that were looking for anything to eat.
These small acts of compassion did a lot for children, and it’s another reason to be proud of our veterans. It also provides a great example to us today because children are starving every day in war zones around the globe. I think we can show the same compassion that our veterans did when they saw children going hungry. We should be feeding hungry children wherever they may be.
We need to because the many wars taking place today are causing a dangerous, rising level of hunger.
Hannah Stephenson, Save the Children’s head of advocacy for hunger and nutrition explains: “2025 has been a devastating year for the children living in the world’s worst conflict zones, with conflict pushing over 60 million children into hunger, including over 11 million who face emergency levels of hunger that necessitate desperate survival measures to stave off the risk of death.”
But sadly humanitarian aid funding has been reduced this year by the U.S. government at a time when it is needed the most. We need to change this and realize that food aid saves children’s lives. Food gives life and hope to children and entire nations.
On this Veterans Day (Armistice Day) which is dedicated to all those who have served, and to peace, we can be thankful for our soldier’s service and compassion. I think we can learn a lot from our veterans in the pursuit of peace today.
William Lambers is an author who partnered with the UN World Food Program on the book Ending World Hunger. His writings also have been published by the Washington Post, Newsweek, History News Network and many other news outlets.