Turning a page of history

MOSES LAKE - On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, Germany signed an armistice to end World War I.

The news spread across the world and in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (P-I) newspaper, which was purchased by John and Elsie Johnson.

"They established an orchard on the peninsula down here," said Stephen Syre, a Moses Lake resident. "They were here many years. They were a pioneer family. They were quite a collector of things."

A copy of the P-I, which announced the end of the war was one of the things they collected. It was passed to Doris Larimer, their daughter.

"I ended up with it when Doris died and after (her) daughter died in February 2003, with cleaning out the house," Syre said. "Among them was this particular paper announcing the end of World War I."

Armistice Day, which became Veterans Day, started because of the signing. He said he ended up with the paper plus other historic newspapers. Syre, a veteran who served from 1966 to 1969, said the history of the event is important.

"I think standing on the shoulders of our forefathers and knowing what sacrifices were made," he said. "This kind of a point, the celebration of that event, which was the war to end all wars. It's significant now that we're post-election and looking at more wars."

Syre turns to the editorial page and points out the notices of the local people who had died during the war.

"These are some of the local people, Dayton, Tacoma, that were killed in action," he said. "We call it Veterans Day, but when I was a kid it was always Armistice Day."

Having the paper, makes Syre want to find out more about the era, he said.

"We've been indoctrinated with World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the other wars," he said.