A LOOK BACK:Armistice Day remembered by our local veterans

I don’t often get really angry while listening to the news, but the remarks of that imbecile U.S. senator inferring that my dad or anyone who had or is serving in the military has the mentality of something less than a garden slug riles me to the bone. Imagine an American senator saying something like that, even if he was joking, and then saying that we misinterpreted his so-called joke while he was in Pasadena on a campaign appearance.

Times sure have changed since World War I ended, for if someone had made a remark like that back then, the angry veterans of Southern California would have headed over to the La Brea Pits for some good old American “Goop,” stopping first to pick up some feather pillows.

They would’ve sent this unpatriotic senator back home where his hometown veterans would, no doubt, apply a second layer of the same.

The remarks were made just a few days before one of our major military holidays.

Armistice Day celebrated the ending of the war to end all wars on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, and for years was celebrated with hometown parades down Main streets across the nation.

This week, we are going to look back at some of our early American Legion members and see where they were and what they were doing on that historic Nov. 11, 1918.

Our first World War I veteran, Ralph Almgren, would go on to work in our oil field for the Wheeler Oil Co., but on that date was training at Camp Johnston, near Augusta, Ga.

Eddie Allen heard the news of the Armistice while he was on board the transport USS Beaufort as it was anchored at Newport News, Va.

Delbert Burry was recovering as a patient in an army hospital in Vichy, France, after receiving shrapnel wounds and being gassed in the trenches. But he was able to watch the celebration from his hospital window.

Future city employee and owner of Lee’s Place, Lee Chamness, was in Bar Le Duc, France, where his division just returned from the battlefront for reinforcements and was waiting to return to the battle lines.

The future chemist for the Monterey Oil Co., Jack Colvin, was flat on his back with influenza in a hospital at Fort Wright in Spokane, Wash.

Three future employees for the State Division of Lands witnessed that historic day.

The first was Paul Davis, who was in Lough-Foyle, Ireland, where he heard a false report of an Armistice and began celebrating.When the news of the real one came, the guys continued to celebrate even more.

The second person at the Lands Division was William Cookerley, who on that special day was inspecting our planes on the field at Romonatin, France. The third future inspector of the Lands Division was Edward Shaw, and he was a lucky guy because he was at his home in Hollywood seeing his 4-month-old son for the first time.

Many would come home after the war to see their children for the first time.

A future superintendent of our elementary school, Ray Elliott, was stationed that day in Vladivostok, Russia, and I’m sure he was dreaming of the warm beaches back home in Huntington Beach. A second future superintendent, John Peterson, received word while he was stationed at Camp Mills on Long Island, New York.

L.H. Dodge, a future Hancock oil worker, was waiting out the war while being stationed at Camp Lewis in Washington.

Two future Huntington Beach police chiefs remembered that special day and what they were doing at the time they heard the good news.

Chief Ben Dulany was real lucky when he got the word of the Armistice, for he was on leave at his home in Orange County, and future Police Chief Vern Keller remembered celebrating the great event in Paris..

Dr. Ralph Hawes was stationed in Kansas on that historic day, waiting out the Lawrence weather, and Dr. Phillip Sheehan, DDS, was freezing in the frigid cold while in camp at Lincoln, Neb.

Bill Elliott of the Sea Breeze Motel had finished his officer’s training in Jacksonville, Fla., when the news came.

Our Perry School’s namesake, Joseph Perry, was stationed in France when the good news broke and went out to celebrate in the city of Tours.

The future “Father of Whipstock Drilling,” H.H. McVicar, was on a submarine chaser about 250 miles off the coast of the Azores Islands when he got word of the signing of the Armistice.

Before he became a fixture of men’s clothing on Main Street, Jack Robertson was stationed that day in Best, France.

Our legendary high school coach, Harry “Cap” Sheue, was recovering at a base hospital in Angers, France, after being badly gassed and got word when an officer came to his bedside. Sheue recalled how he was able to hear all the bells in the town ringing out the good news.

These are just a few of our brave citizens who recalled that special day and what they were doing at the time, just like the people today will remember where they were on Sept. 11.

I do hope that this East Coast senator, if he ever comes to California again, will first hire a professional joke writer so we won’t misinterpret any of his jokes.