By, Michelle Hazekamp
November 11, 2024
“To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…” President Woodrow Wilson, November 11, 1919.
November 11 & the Proclamation of Peace
On November 11, 1918, World War I came to a close when the allied powers signed a cease-fire agreement with Germany. A year later, President Woodrow Wislon proclaimed the first "Armistice Day," , and then commemorated it in 1921 with the burial of an unknown soldier from World War I at Arlington National Cemetary in Arlington, Virginia. "Armistice Day, " later re-named "Veterans Day," was proclaimed to emphasize peace and honor those who served in the Great War.
Dedication to World Peace
It wasn't until 1938 when Armistice Day was officially established and declared a legal holiday. The 75th Congress also dedicated the date of November 11 to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated in remembrance of the agreement that was signed on November 11, 1918, marking the end of World War I.
The Scope has Broadened Beyond World War I
After going through World War II and the Korean War, the scope of Veterans Day had broadened, and at the urging of veterans service organizations, the 83rd U.S. Congress amended the Act of 1938 by replacing the word "Armistice" with "Veterans." Over the years, Veterans Day evolved into not just a day to recognize war time soldiers, but those who serve during times of peace as well.
The First National Celebration
In 1947, the first national celebration that used the term "Veterans Day" was held after a Navy veteran, Raymond Weeks who served in WWII, organized a movement for a national day to honor all Americans who served in the armed forces. Weeks served as the director of the National Veterans Day Celebration in Birmingham, Alabama, for decades, until his death in 1985.
Veterans Day Traditions
In the United States, an official wreath-laying ceremony is held each Veterans Day at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, while parades and other celebrations are held in states around the country.
Things to Know About Veterans Day
It's "Veterans Day," not "Veteran's Day," for a good reason. The lack of the apostrophe might seem like a semantic choice, but it has a definite and deliberate meaning. According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs,Veterans Day is a day for honoring veterans directly in front of us right now.
Marines celebrate their service birthday and Veterans Day with a 96-hour liberty. November 10 marks the Marine Corps birthday, an event that is generally celebrated with a traditional ball and a cake-cutting ceremony. Since this special day falls the day before Veterans Day, many Marines celebrate both holidays together with a 96-hour liberty period.
A group once pushed to rename then-Armistice Day as "Mayflower Day." After the outbreak of WWII and the revelation that WWI did not end all wars, the idea of commemorating Armistice Day began to fall out of favor with a small group of Americans, led by Francis Carr Stifler of the American Bible Society. The group proposed that Armistice Day be officially replaced with Mayflower Day since the signing of the Mayflower Compact took place on November 11, 1620. They argued that this whole name would be far more appropriate, since the Mayflower Compact was the cornerstone upon which the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights stood. Of course, the group's ideas did not catch on, and Armistice Day eventually became the Veterans Day that we know today.
Other countries also observe November 11 in their own way. Remembrance Day, often referred to as Poppy Day due to the custom of wearing a remembrance poppy.
Poppies have long been associated with World War I memorials through the poem “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae, and in several countries paper poppies are sold to raise money for the support of veterans and are worn in the lapel as a sign of remembrance.
The National Veterans Day Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery is one of the few ceremonies where a sitting president participates, laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Veterans Day pays tribute to all American veterans—living or dead—but especially gives thanks to living veterans who served their country honorably during war or peacetime.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13.
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