By Fred Steiner

Nov. 11 marks the conclusion of World War I, also known as The Great War. The late Rolland Stratton told the following short story to me. It is also published in my book "A Good Place To Miss: Bluffton Stories 1900-1975."

Here's the story in Rolland's own words:

I had many uncles and cousins in the army. My aunt, Eliza Fett, wrote to her son Gilbert, who was in France. She suggested that he write to his grandfather, Asa Stratton.

So, Gilbert wrote several times and his grandfather always answered promptly. In one letter, Gilbert told his grandfather that the army had a gun in France that could shoot as far as the distance from Bluffton to Findlay.

When Gilbert returned from the war, in one of his conversations with his grandfather, Gilbert was "scolded" rather harshly by his grandfather. You see, his grandfather thought Gilbert was trying to make a fool out of him with this story.

He told Gilbert that it was impossible to shoot through all that timber. Gilbert's grandfather hadn't realized the gun was elevated.