I want to say THANKS to all the men and women who have put themselves in harms way, and the great sacrifices they have made so that I can enjoy freedom. And a special THANKS to the families who have family members who paid the ultimate sacrifice in giving their lives so I can enjoy freedom at their sacrifice. Words could never express my gratitude for their sacrifice. I hope I will be able to say THANKS to them some day in heaven.
I have to admit that I did not know how or when Veterans Day celebrations began. From Wikipedia, I found the following information about Veterans Day:
"
Veterans Day, formerly
Armistice Day, is an annual
United States holiday honoring military
veterans. It is a
federal holiday that is observed on November 11. It is coincides with other holidays such as Armistice Day or
Remembrance Day, which are celebrated in other parts of the world and also mark the anniversary of the signing of the
Armistice that ended
World War I. (Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of
the Armistice.)
The U.S. President
Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed an Armistice Day for November 11, 1919. In proclaiming the holiday, he said
"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."
The United States Congress passed a concurrent resolution seven years later on June 4, 1926, requesting that the President
Calvin Coolidge issue another proclamation to observe November 11 with appropriate ceremonies.
An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U.S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday; "a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day'."
In 1953, an
Emporia, Kansas man named Alvin King the owner of a shoe repair shop, had the idea to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans, not just those who died in
World War I. King had been actively involved with the American War Dads during
World War II. He began a campaign to turn
Armistice Day into "All" Veterans Day. The Emporia
Chamber of Commerce took up the cause after determining that 90% of Emporia merchants as well as the Board of Education supported closing their doors on November 11 to honor all veterans. With the help of U.S. Representative Ed Rees, also from Emporia, a bill for the holiday was pushed through Congress. President
Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law on May 26, 1954.
Congress amended this act on June 1, 1954, replacing "Armistice" with "Veterans," and it has been known as Veterans Day since.
Although originally scheduled for celebration on November 11 of every year, starting in 1971 in accordance with the
Uniform Monday Holiday Act, Veterans Day was moved to the fourth Monday of October. In 1978, it was moved back to its original celebration on November 11.
Because it is a
federal holiday, many American people have the day off from school or work for Veterans Day. A
Society for Human Resource Management poll in 2010 found that 21 percent of employers planned to observe the holiday in 2011.
Employers in
Iowa are required by state law to provide a day off on Veterans Day to each employee who is a veteran if the employee would otherwise be required to work on that day, unless the employer would experience significant economic or operational disruption.
Non-essential federal government offices are closed. No mail is delivered. All federal workers are paid for the holiday; those who are required to work on the holiday sometimes receive wages for that day in addition to holiday pay. The holiday is often celebrated by having a
ravioli meal. This tradition dates back to the ending days of
World War I when President
Woodrow Wilson, aware that the returning soldiers would be longing for home cooked meals, invited 2,000 soldiers to the
White House and helped his staff chefs cook them ravioli, which had just become a mainstay in mainstream American kitchens due to commercial canning.
In his Armistice Day address to Congress, Wilson was sensitive to the psychological toll of the lean War years: "Hunger," he remarked, "breeds madness."
I hope you enjoyed learning about this celebration as I did. I decided to run a sale to coincide with the 11-11-11 date by having an 11% off sale in my store in honor of Veterans Day. It will extend through the weekend. Click on the ad to go to my shop at Digitals.
I hope you have a blessed weekend! Thanks for stopping by Today! Scrap those memories before they fade away!
