Note: The following is one of a series of articles looking at events in the history of Bulloch County.
Indiana's Journal & Courier newspaper's issue for Nov. 4, 2016, carried an article about "Remembering Armistice Day." It began by declaring, "This Friday is a special day."
"Some call it Veterans Day, Old-timers call it Armistice Day. That's what it was in 1918. Armistice meant — and still means — "a stop in fighting, a temporary peace, a truce."
So, "They celebrated the armistice back in 1918 (by) letting kids out of schools, tooting the whistles of railroad engines and factories, ringing church bells, (and) 30,000 revelers cheered around Courthouse Square."
The Bulloch Times-Statesboro News-Statesboro Eagle issue of Nov. 4, 1937 headlines shouted “Statesboro planning mammoth program to celebrate Armistice Day next Thursday.”
And, “Ten thousand expected to hear Gov. Rivers speak. City and county join with legion. Dinner for huge crowd to be served at new airport at 1 o’clock Thursday.”
It added that “plans are well under way for the greatest picnic occasion which Statesboro has known since, perhaps, that which tendered the World War veterans at their home coming in July 1919.”
In addition, “Bulloch County’s recently completed airport is to be formally dedicated, and the exercises of the day are to be held at the landing field (and) the teachers college band will make music.”
According to the Bulloch Herald of Nov. 5, 1937, the citizens of Bulloch County and the city of Statesboro's American Legion were finishing preparations to celebrate two milestones in the city's and county's history.
They were observing Armistice Day and dedicating the Statesboro airport. Both events would take place on Nov. 11, 1937. What was once known as the Armistice Day holiday has now become the Veterans Day holiday.
Whereas Armistice Day remembered the day the "Armistice" and the end of hostilities at the end of World War One, Veterans Day now celebrates the service of all Armed Forces personnel who served in all of America's wars.
On Nov. 11 in Statesboro, Gov. Eurith Dickensen Rivers spoke in a drizzling rain to a crowd of almost 10,000 people. Before Rivers spoke the crowd was warmed up by W.A. Simmons.
He was the staff adjutant of the American Legion of Georgia. He attacked communism, fascism, and Nazism, saying: “America should be preserved with no dictatorship of the citizenry.”
The celebration included free barbecue, a mail plane from New York, and a death-defying delayed parachute jump from 10,000 feet by Sandy Strachan, followed by a jump by “Little Willie” at 500 feet.
Two well-known stunt pilots, Owen McRoberts and Jimmie Culpepper, were scheduled to perform a dogfight to entertain the crowd. The most popular attractions, however, were the airplane rides available to the public.
You could go up on a giant tri-motored airplane which had flown in for the occasion for $1 per person. In addition, a plane carrying air-mail letters from New York City was to land at the Statesboro airport.
This was the first non-stop delivery of mail from that city. Fred Hodges was the chairman of the various steering committees for this event. Roger Holland was in charge of organizing the food for the event.
Bonnie Morris was in charge of cooking, assisted by Sam Northcutt. Over 125 hogs were barbecued. They used over $160 worth of bread, $85 in sweet pickles, and $85 in iced tea.
The plan was to be able to feed 100 people every minute in each of the 10 active serving lines over a two-hour period. Everyone said the celebration would be a great success.
Roger Allen is a local lover of history who provides a brief look each week at the area's past. E-mail him at rwasr1953@gmail.com.