of Governor Herbert R. O'Conor 119

ARMISTICE DAY

War Memorial, November 11, 1939
Baltimore

AMERICA honors itself in commemoration of Armistice Day by the tribute
which is deservedly paid to those patriots who made this anniversary
possible twenty-one years ago today. Armistice Day did not come until after
thousands of our young men had paid with their lives for the preservation of
liberty; nor did it come until many other tens of thousands of our young men
had been wounded or otherwise crippled for life; nor until millions of homes
had paid the penalty of sacrifice.

It has come about, therefore, very naturally and properly that this
National holiday, in addition to being considered as a day celebrating the
Armistice, is also considered as a day of commemoration and homage. On
this day we commemorate the heroism of our dead, and pay homage to the
countless number of our Veterans, living testimony of the sacrifice made for
and on our behalf. It is for that additional reason that throughout the length
and breadth of our great Land there are at this moment being held tens of
thousands of meetings similar to the meeting we are holding here. At each
such place, on this day, hundreds of thousands of our Countrymen by their
voice and presence, while other millions in their minds and hearts, are paying
tribute to the memory of our hallowed dead—and giving deserved recognition
to the number of service men who survived.

In so doing, as a people, we not only pay our respect and our homage but
we render ourselves and our Country a lasting benefit. Ideals are the most
valuable asset of a man or a nation. Ideals are the soul of a people. It is
from deathless transactions such as we now commemorate, and unselfish
sacrifices for which we here try to express our appreciation, that the ideals
that are to guide our future are nurtured and born. When, therefore, we pay
this tribute, we are creating and sustaining ideals for those who shall come
after us. It has by this and similar commemorative meetings and exercises that
the American people have undertaken to make it known that those who bared
their breasts for their Country in that crisis at that time, are entitled to hold
the first place in the front line of our esteem.

However, while we thus meet to celebrate and commemorate our chivalry
and our sacrifice, events of world-wide importance, and the snarl of angry
nations force additional and other considerations upon us. While meeting
to acknowledge the sacrifice and extol the heroism of those who participated
in the World War, we are compelled to realize that the victory which obtained
has been prostituted to unworthy ends. America entered the World War under
conditions of idealism probably without parallel in the history of nations. We
made our contribution and retired to peaceful pursuits without ever having
expected, demanded, or received any material gain.

On Armistice Day, 1918, our people verily believed that the era of imperial-
istic war was forever at an end. The mothers of our dead, the returning
cripples, and the millions of other Veterans joined with those "at home in the
conviction that the great end fought for had been reached. We celebrated and
were proud that America had done its part. The end which we thought had
been achieved we felt to be sufficient reward.