Veterans Day

Whenever Veterans Day comes around, we have parades, ceremonies, events, and days off from work to celebrate. Relatively keeping the same idea, the day originally was celebrated with parades, public meetings, and businesses suspending at 11 AM. Veterans day is a day to remember those who fought for our country and to give them our thanks.

On November 11, 1919, President Wilson first announced the day to be the celebration of Armistice Day after World War I had ended and hope returned. Out of fifty states, twenty-seven of them declared November 11th to be a legal holiday. On May 13, 1938, “Armistice Day” was approved to be a legal holiday all over the United States. This day is to be remembered as the day of world peace.

In 1954, the day was later changed to “Veterans Day” to honor all American Veterans of all wars–not just World War I or World War II. On June 28, 1968, The Uniform Holiday Bill was signed. This bill guaranteed federal employees a multitude of three day weekends for the celebration of four holidays: Washington's birthday, Memorial Day, Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and Veterans Day.

“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 Wilson, November 11, 1919.

Image Courtesy of Sergeant Matt Hecht on rawpixel.