Intro of ww1 Christmas story

June 28th, 1914
Haddenham, Buckinghamshire
4:00 pm

It has been very quiet here for the last several days, with little of anything to do but to listen to the messages coming through on the telegram, in the town's railway station. For a small village that can be something, we are famous for the ponds that are in the village and the surrounding areas. The Great Western Railway because of that fact built the station here. The line is very quiet, which is usual for Sunday evening.
The stationmaster, Timothy Dorean, came in to the room to ask me if anything had come over the line during the day. Being an ex-veteran of the army, he would always come and ask me about anything said over the line, as if he was waiting for the next war to start. Just as soon as he walked in, a message came through, I quickly wrote down the message as follows:
Archduke Ferdinand and wife assassinated in Sarajevo, today. *Stop* Austria-Hungary government is convinced that Serbia is to blame. *Stop* Russia determined to defend Serbia. *Stop*
As I was writing the message, Timothy was looking over my shoulder. As he read, his face turned white. I turned to him and asked, "What is the matter; you as white as a ghost." He replied that this means war on the continent of Europe. Little did I know that I would be in that war.