100 years ago in The Saratogian

Friday, Nov. 29, 1918. For the first time, The Saratogian is able to report how local soldiers in Europe responded to the end of the world war on November 11.

Writing on that day from “Somewhere in France,” Private Walter F. A’Hearn tells his mother, Mrs. Patrick H. A’Hearn of 260 Church Street, that “The people are about wild. The church bells are ringing now and the whistles are blowing.”

As for his fellow troops, “The boys are some happy bunch.”

The big question now is when A’Hearn and the rest of the 27th Division, which includes Saratoga County’s Company L, will get to go home. A’Hearn himself has heard “a lot of talk about our division going to England to be reviewed by the King.” If that happens, he expects his unit to be home sooner rather than later. As of now, however, there has been no word from the U.S. military about the 27th Division leaving Europe.

“Mother, I can just imagine you when you heard that the war was over,” A’Hearn continues, “I’ll bet there was a great time in the States today. I would have loved to have been there to see the streets, but it won’t be long. I am so happy that I can hardly write.”

Moriarty of ‘L’ Company a Sergeant

“We broke the much vaunted Hindenburg line and at one of the toughest places that they had,” Daniel A. Moriarty wrote home on October 30, while informing his friend, Saratoga Springs police superintendent James H. King, that he’d been promoted to sergeant in Company L.

“We lost some good men doing it,” Moriarty adds, “in fact some of our best … From one of your newspaper clippings we read Private X’s letter in which he says he liked going ‘over the top.’ Don’t you believe it. That kind of talk is all ‘bull,’ for I have yet to see or meet the man who likes going over the top.

“Our company has been over as often as any company in France today (fourteen times) and never lost a foot of ground, always gained our objective and holding it. Yet going over the top is not like going in the race track gate with a complimentary badge hanging from your vest. So discount that stuff.” What’s Happening “Swat the Spy!” now playing at the Broadway, is “A Comedy of German Plots and American Counterplots,” accompanied by three acts of vaudeville and a newsreel.

“Lorna Doone,” playing at the Lyric, is “the best of all old stories,” while “De Luxe Annie” at the Palace stars Norma Talmadge and is “Triply guaranteed” to entertain.

— Kevin Gilbert