All the banks in Muskogee remained closed on Monday, Nov. 11, 1918, but it was not due to a financial crisis. In the early hours of the morning, the Monday edition of the Muskogee Phoenix hit the streets. Its banner headlines announced the signing of an armistice signaling the end of the world war.

Before daylight, the news began to spread quickly around town, and impromptu celebrations broke out. War board officials along with Phoenix Editor Tams Bixby, who were the first to learn of the armistice, started a parade using whatever noisemakers they could find to alert Muskogee citizens of the news.

People flooded Muskogee’s streets, many waving flags and others sounding whistles and horns and even firing guns in a hilarious parade that wound back and forth around downtown. Most businesses remained closed for the day. Everyone wanted to be a part of the celebration.

Muskogee had never seen such a demonstration of relief and joy before. The Phoenix reported that “men, women and children — and in many instances, the family dog — were there to give vent to their joy.” The parade lasted until midnight.

Oklahoma had contributed much to the war effort. When President Woodrow Wilson had asked for a declaration of war against Germany on April 2, 1917, Oklahomans met the news with their typical patriotism. Many young men rushed to enlist in the service, and those on the home front did their part with meatless days, ration coupons and Liberty Bond sales.

The Oklahoma National Guard was activated as the Thirty-sixth Division and sent overseas in July of 1917. Many of these young soldiers were Native Americans, and it was in World War I that the use of native languages was first employed to confused German wiretaps. The Germans were never able to “decode” the Choctaw words Oklahoma soldiers were using on the battlefield.

So impressive was Oklahoma’s war record that when the French government chose to have a painting of an American soldier placed in one of its Paris art galleries, an Oklahoma soldier, Otis Lender, was chosen as the model for the painting.

Even on that joyous day in Muskogee when the armistice celebration was taking place, a group of 195 young draftees had gathered to march to the Katy Depot to board a special train bound for Camp McArthur in Waco, Texas. But when they arrived at the depot, they were informed that all drafts had been canceled and they could all go home. This only added to the mayhem on Muskogee streets.

It had been a horrific war, and its ending brought relief and a desire to honor the soldiers who had fought in it. Muskogeeans dedicated the Doughboy statue that now stands before the Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center to these brave men, and they chose the name Honor Heights for the city’s premier park in remembrance of the soldiers of World War I.



Reach Jonita Mullins at jonita@netscape.com.