More than 100 years ago in Trafford, on Nov. 11, 1918, Charles Bolam and his wife Mary heard the peal of bells — a ringing that signaled the end of World War I.
The Bolams had two boys, Edward and Norman, serving overseas. Edward was in an ambulance company, and Norman was part of a field artillery battery. Both returned home in the summer of 1919.
“When those bells rang down here, I can imagine the feeling those parents had, hearing that the war was over,” said Trafford resident and local historian Andrew Capets.
On Monday, descendants of the family, Charles Bolam Jr. and Charles Bolam III, rang that same bell on Veterans Day to mark the 100th anniversary of the borough’s Veterans Memorial Park and its World War I memorial.
The World War I memorial is inscribed with nearly 180 names. Over the years, the site has come to include additional memorials for World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the ongoing war on terrorism.
“This community continues to have young men and women answer the call in our longest-running war, the war on terror,” Capets said.
The World War I memorial notes that the men whose names are inscribed “answered their country’s call that liberty and justice and equity might not perish.”
“Those words — liberty, justice and equity — hold as much significance today as they did 100 years ago,” Capets said.
Below, students from Penn-Trafford High School perform as part of Monday’s program.
