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At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, bells will ring through Charleston, symbols of the peace declared 100 years ago.
The end of the First World War in 1918 was a cause for celebration in South Carolina, a state that had sent about 53,000 men and women to serve the war.
By the end, over 1,900 South Carolinians had died, including 88 from Charleston. They served in the 30th Infantry Division, the 81st Division and the 93rd Division, which included African-American troops serving under French command.
"At dawn this morning, the war cloud that was separating from Europe and the agony of more than four years that Germany has dragged on the world have come to an end", said the Charleston Evening Post in an editorial of November 11, 1918.
The bells of the city rang 24 times, all available trainings marched in the street. A crowd of 5,000 whistled whistles, fired pistols in the air and knocked on the battery at Marion Square.
The war left an imprint on Charleston, both by its number of deaths and by its reinvention in the historic port city. According to a recent proclamation by Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg, the navy has expanded its presence at the current North Charleston naval base, tripling the number of its pre-war personnel to 5,600 and stationing 93 officers in its neighborhood. general.
The navy's presence and shipbuilding efforts would further expand in the preparation for the Second World War, making the navy one of the largest employers in the region until the closure of the base in 1996.
Throughout the state, the training camps set up for the war effort have become permanent facilities. Camp Jackson, near Columbia, became Fort Jackson, while Camp Moore in Lexington County became the Pine Ridge Armory.
The recruits are at attention at a training camp near the Charleston Naval Yard. North Charleston City Archives / Provided
The First World War also accelerated a movement of more than a century known as "Great Migration", during which Black Southerners sought better opportunities in the wartime industries of the northern states.
As the years passed and World War I veterans carried their memories to their graves, some Charlestonians feared that the sacrifices and work of the Great War would be forgotten. The Federal Armistice Day was officially renamed Veterans Day in 1954, causing consternation among some South Carolinians who still remembered the burden of war and the sense of relief that reigned in the end.
In a letter published by The News and Courier in 1971, Mrs. S.P. Eaddy, of Johnsonville, recalled anxiously, then aged 9, that rural letter carriers were bringing news about the war to newspapers.
"An old lady who lived at my grandfather's house had a son and my grandparents had a son, both of whom had to go to war on the next boys' call," Eaddy wrote. "My grandmother and the old lady met daily, crying and praying for the war to stop so their sons would not have to leave."
The scale of commemorations of Armistice Day has faded over the years. On the day of the armistice in 1974, District Commander John Wertz lamented to the newspaper that the American Legion was due to cancel the planned Charleston parade because no military band was available.
Daniel Gidick, a history professor in the United States, teaches a melodramatic "battlefield speech" to his students before they undergo the notoriously difficult exam Friday morning, May 5, 2017. This year , Gidick lobbied the city of Charleston to commemorate the centennial of the Armistice Day through the bells ringing and a proclamation of the mayor. File / Brad Nettles / Staff
This year, Daniel Gidick, a professor of American history at American High School Wando High School, also feared that the centenary would go unnoticed.
"It sounds a bit like a lot of memory in the United States about the First World War," said Gidlick. "Certainly, it is eclipsed in the American collective memory by the Second World War."
With the help of the Centennial Commission of the First World War, he managed to pressure Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg to issue a proclamation asking the churches to ring in their turn. November 11th.
The city of Sullivan's Island will also host its own events on Sunday. Reconstitutions disguised as "doughboys" will travel to Fort Moultrie at 9:00 am and a commemorative ceremony will begin at 10:45 am in a park in front of the Stella Maris Catholic Church.
Independent of Gidick's efforts, local author and retired tour guide, Danny Crooks, is also interested in preserving the history of the First World War.
The recruits are at attention at a training camp near the Charleston Naval Yard. North Charleston City Archives / Provided
Three years ago, after discovering that a memorial to the fallen soldiers of Charleston was hidden on a storage lot in the city, he asked that he be brought back to his home. home of origin, near the Ashley River Bridge.
However, he encountered an obstacle: the memorial was incomplete, omitting the names of some black soldiers and all black soldiers who died in battle.
After some fighting with the Washington Light Infantry and a careful reading of the state's Heritage Act, which required an act of the legislature to alter or relocate war memorials, he abandoned his task of correcting the monument.
Today, the monument remains hidden in a lot behind a fence fence.
Crooks instead started writing a book.
"I just think it's worth remembering these men for their sacrifices," he said.
Amateur historian Danny Crooks attempted three years ago to correct and replace a monument dedicated to Charleston's soldiers who died during the First World War. He adds that the list of deceased soldiers is incomplete and omits the names of the black soldiers who served and died. File / Grace Beahm / Staff
Contact Paul Bowers at 843-937-5546. Follow him on Twitter @paul_bowers.
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