I am writing this Storied Charlotte blog post on Saturday, November 11, 2023. I waited until 11:00 in the morning to start writing this post in honor of Armistice Day, which is now known as Veterans Day. It commemorates the end of World War I. On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, all of the countries involved in World War I agreed to an armistice resulting in the cessation of military operations. The next year saw the observance of the first Armistice Day, which took place on November 11, 1919. In 1954, Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day, but it is still observed on the eleventh day of November.
Veterans Day provides us with an opportunity to recognize and honor those who have served in the military. As I see it, one way to honor military service is to read and reflect on the stories about people in service during wartime. Several Charlotte authors have published such stories in recent years. Three examples are Gary Edgington’s Outside the Wire, Meredith Ritchie’s Poster Girls, and Nancy Northcott’s The King’s Champion.
Gary Edgington’s Outside the Wire deals with America’s involvement in the Iraq War. The novel opens in Baghdad in 2008, and it immediately immerses the reader in the chaos and complexities of the war. The novel is marketed as a military thriller, but it also a story about a burgeoning relationship between a counterterrorism expert named Rick Sutherland and a military physician named Nancy Weaver. For more information about Gary and his debut novel, please click on the following link: https://garyedgingtonauthor.com/
Meredith Ritchie’s Poster Girls is a historical novel set in Charlotte during World War II. The novel focuses on the women who worked at Charlotte’s Shell Plant where they manufactured ammunition for the war effort. Meredith tells the story from the perspectives of two military wives—one black and the other white—who both find employment at the Shell Plant. The novel delves into the nature of life on the home front, but it is also story about an unlikely friendship. For readers who want to know more about Meredith and Poster Girls, please click on the following link: https://www.meredithritchie.com/
Nancy Northcott’s The King’s Champion concludes her Boar King’s Honor historical fantasy trilogy. Although this novel’s main characters are wizards, the book centers on the real history of World War II from the Dunkirk evacuation through the Battle of Britain. Kate Shaw, one of the central characters, is an American photojournalist posted to her agency’s London office. With British Army officer Sebastian Mainwaring, she and others with magical Gifts work to stop the intended German invasion of Britain, Operation Sealion. For more information about The King’s Champion and Nancy’s other work, please visit her website, www.NancyNorthcott.com.
As all three of these novels make clear, war stories involve much more than a series of battle scenes. They are also stories about complex human relationships. As we observe Veterans Day here in Storied Charlotte, it is important that we remember that wartime service affects veterans and their families and to be grateful for what they have done.