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Do you know the real meaning of Veterans’ Day? |
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Wednesday, 07 November 2007 |
Some people think Veterans’ Day commemorates great victories. . . or honors great heroes of past wars. Or glorifies war. The real purpose of Veterans’ Day is to honor our citizen soldiers, those millions of Americans who serve or have served their country when asked and the thousands who died.
November 11, 1921 was the first Veterans’ Day. Armistice Day as it was then called, was set aside by Congress to honor the veterans of World War I and marked the fourth anniversary of the signing of the Armistice with Germany.
In June 1954, President Eisenhower signed a bill to honor veterans of WWII and the Korean War on that day. The holiday was officially renamed Veterans’ Day.
Because the Armistice ending WWI was signed at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11, 1918, it became the custom to observe two minutes of silence at that hour. Does that silence exist today? Do churches still include patriotic services and prayers for the war dead on the preceding Sunday or the 11th.
The most solemn service is observed in the laying of a wreath at the tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington Cemetery. The Unknown Soldier’s body was one of four unidentified soldiers brought from American cemeteries in France to Washington’s City Hall and placed in a flag-draped room. While an Army band played appropriate music, a sergeant of the 59th Infantry placed a bouquet of white roses on one of the coffins. The inscription on the casket read: “An Unknown American Soldier Who Gave His Life In The Great War.”
It would be a perfect world if one day there were no living war veterans. If a lifetime passed without armed conflict. If there was no need for a standing Army. But the world is far from perfect.
So, on Nov. 11, with one voice, express gratitude to each and every one of our veterans today. They are the true American heroes!
RutheMary Kronebusch, American Legion Auxiliary
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