Join ClearedJobs.Net in honoring veterans today! For each post on our Cleared Military Facebook wall ClearedJobs.Net will buy a Cup of Joe for a Joe, a program that provides a free cup of coffee to soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. If you know a veteran thank them for their service to our country. And so you know the origins of this day in our history:
In 1921, an unknown World War I American soldier was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. This site became the focal point of reverence for America’s veterans.
Similar ceremonies occurred earlier in England and France, where an unknown soldier was buried in each nation’s highest place of honor — in England, Westminster Abbey; in France, the Arc de Triomphe. These memorial gestures all took place on November 11, giving universal recognition to the celebrated ending of World War I fighting at 11 a.m., November 11, 1918 (the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month). The day became known as “Armistice Day.”
Armistice Day officially received its name in America in 1926 through a Congressional resolution and became a national holiday in 1928. If the idealistic hope had been realized that World War I was “the War to end all wars,” November 11 might still be called Armistice Day. However war broke out in Europe, 16.5 million Americans took part, and 407,000 died in service, more than 292,000 in battle.
The first celebration using the term Veterans Day occurred in Birmingham, Alabama, November 11, 1947. Raymond Weeks, a World War II veteran, organized “National Veterans Day,” which included a parade and other festivities, to honor all veterans. U.S. Representative Edward Rees of Kansas proposed a bill that would change Armistice Day to Veterans Day, and in 1954 Congress passed the bill that President Eisenhower signed proclaiming November 11 as Veterans Day. Raymond Weeks received the Presidential Citizens Medal from President Reagan in November 1982. Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Thank you to all Veterans! We appreciate your service in defending our nation and our freedoms!
Thank you Veterans for everything you do for our country – the sacrifices you make and the courage you show!
My sister and I are both vets with disabilities. I’ve visited all three of the Tombs of the unknown, and even though my ability to read French is limited, the written tributes were touching.
It is an Engish custom since the Queen Mother for brides to lay their boquets on the tomb.
Thanks Laureen, Jay and Carol for your comments!
Carol, thank you for your service and that of your sister and for sharing the English custom.
Kathleen