100 Years Ago, A U.S. Pilot Saw An 'End To The Sorrow' On Armistice Day

"This Sunday 100 years ago, Nov. 11, 1918, the Allies of World War I and Germany agreed to a cease-fire signifying the end of the 'war to end all wars.'"

"Representatives of the two sides signed the agreement in Compiègne Forest, in northern France, on the day of the year now recognized as Armistice Day."

"It came into effect at 11 a.m. French time: 'the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.'"

"Fenton Caldwell was in France that day, too — or, technically, over it. Hundreds of miles to the south, near Bordeaux."

"'I was at about 10,000 feet in the air, flying a De Havilland DH-4 airplane,' the Army Air Corps pilot told his family in 1975. He was on a reconnaissance mission, unaware that the armistice had begun."

"Caldwell's family recorded his memories 57 years later. His niece, Joy Panagides, shared her family's audio treasure with NPR."

"'Uncle Fenton was my favorite uncle, he had wonderful stories,' Panagides tells NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro. 'He enchanted everybody in the family with his very good memory for details.'"