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Veterans Day began as Armistice Day at the end of World War I
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A veteran adjusts flags at Fort Hood. AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez
The day we call Veterans Day started out as Armistice Day, which commemorated the end of the fighting in World War I and the Armistice on November 11, at 11:00 AM, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918.
School children, workers, and everyone in public were expected to stop for two minutes of silence at 11 am to observe the end of that awful, so-called war to end all wars, called The Great War.
It was called Armistice Day to remember the day hostilities ended, but the Treaty of Versailles was not signed until 1919. The day was also called Remembrance Day, or Poppy Day, when people wear poppies as a remembrance, and even today in England, football (soccer) fans will notice the addition of cloth red poppies on the lapels of the coaches and on the uniforms of the players of most teams.
Artificial poppies are sold to raise funds for veterans’ charities. The poem,“In Flanders Fields,” by Canadian soldier John McCrae, tells the tale of the land so stirred up by battle that the dormant poppy seeds in the soil began to grow and bloom.
President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first Armistice Day in honor and gratitude for those who served their country. The original observance was to be a two minute suspension of all activities and business beginning at the eleventh hour of the morning, followed by parades and public observances. President Wilson was deeply committed to the cause of international peace and the League of Nations, so in 1920 he named the closest Sunday to the day as Armistice Day Sunday.
From these beginnings, a legal holiday was declared to honor the war dead and all those who served, including ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. The Federal holiday for Armistice Day continued throughout the 1920s to the 1950s, with the Second World War and Korean War veterans added to those remembered. The name was changed in 1954 to Veteran’s Day, and the rolls of those who served their country were expanded in the Vietnam War. The holiday got moved around a bit with the effort to put all holidays on Mondays, but the states did not all follow suit. By 1975 the day was returned to the traditional November 11 day in 1978.
While a school and business holiday gives the opportunity to honor veterans with parades, ceremonies, and public events, people often see it as just another day off, a day to go shopping, or to catch up on personal business. There was something very moving about children learning about the meaning of the day and standing in silence to show their respect, and factories and businesses stopping their activities.
Wherever you happen to be on November 11, pause at the eleventh hour and give just two minutes of silent contemplation and respect for the many veterans who have served their country in the past, and those who are serving their country today.
More articles about Veteran's Day:
President Wilson and the Spanish Flu
Many parks offer free admission to veterans on this day. Read an example about Kentucky State Parks.
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