"Do I dream?" Here are some of the letters written by soldiers on the last day of the First World War.

One hundred years later, their words can still pierce hearts: fighters writing at home from the opposing front lines of the First World War, a Chinese worker amazed by the end of the war, a woman dreaming of finding his love of soldier .

At a ceremony in Paris marking the centenary of the Armistice ending the First World War, eight teenagers born in the twenty-first century read letters and written notes on the day of the carnage's end, on 11 November 1918.

Here are excerpts from the readings:

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"My dear parents,

Today was perfectly wonderful. We had news of the armistice at 9:30 this morning. I had 10 minutes to organize a detachment for a big parade on the Place de Mons. So I asked everyone that I could put my hand in to clean the mud. The streets were filled with extremely cheering civilians throwing flowers at us and unfurling like a stranger. The whole street and the square was a blaze of colors, mainly, of course, the Belgian colors red, yellow and black. Union Jacks, French flags, American flags, in fact, all the imaginable flags of the allies. "

– British Officer Charles Neville, Royal Horse Artillery

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"The war is over and in an hour we will leave. We will never have to come back here.

A light fog is formed on the ground and we can clearly see the line of pits and trenches. . These elements of a scary world and a ruthless life.

In an hour, everything will have disappeared to the point that one could believe that it never existed. How can we understand this?

And we who are here, who must laugh and shout for joy, feel a heaviness in our belly. "

– The German infantryman and writer Erich Maria Note, regiment of the XVth Infantry Reserve, taken from the book "After"

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"The sirens of the factories seemed to ring and cries and happy songs sounded. The end of the war was announced.

… At 11 o'clock, arms and work stopped everywhere. I wanted to see for myself how the French celebrated the armistice. There were already a crowd of people in the city: men and women, young and old, soldiers and civilians, people of all skin colors walked together, hand in hand, singing or applauding. "

– The Chinese laborer Gu Xinggqing, working in a depot in Rouen, Normandy; Tens of thousands of Chinese workers have been brought in to support the war effort.

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"Hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the United States, England, Canada, France, Australia, Italy and the colonies participated in the parade. Each soldier had his arms full of French girls, some crying, others laughing; each girl had to kiss each soldier before letting him pass. There is nowhere on earth that I would rather be today than where I am. …

I only hope that the dead soldiers for this cause despise the world today. The whole world owes this moment of real joy to the heroes who are not here to enjoy it. "

– American soldier Captain Charles S. Normington, 127th Infantry, 32nd Division

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"My Pierre, my darling …

As I write to you, in your distant Alsatian forest, you are learning incredible news! Here, the bells ring wildly.

I am sick of happiness. I can not write. I sob desperately for joy.

I will never be able to express to you the feeling and delirious joy of this first day of the armistice. The upheaval in the depths of my being, and this incredible idea that no man will fall, that the immense length of the forehead is silent. Nothing but silence. Great tears flow, because I think everything is over. "

– French Denise Bruller, in a letter to her fiancé Pierre Fort

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"Am I dreaming, I wonder if I am … As soon as I realize how happy I am, I think of my brother and sister, victims of the war, their eyes clouded .

"More than ever, I am convinced that the war is over. The weapons have been dropped: they will not be recovered. I still have a lot to write, but the hubbub of the shells and the hissing bullets are over. "

– Sergeant Major Alfred Roumiguieres, 343th Infantry Regiment

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"Blewu was composed by Togolese singer Bellow in Mina language. It is a song of gratitude for the dedication of others and a celebration of community life. The beauty and serenity of this melody evoke for me a future of universal peace and reconciliation. "

–Angelique Kidjo, Grammy award-winning Beninese singer, singing in honor of colonial soldiers recruited throughout Africa and Asia to fight and die for European armies

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