”Whenever the world makes you cynical; whenever you seek true humility, and true selflessness — look to a veteran.”
This is my traditional post for Veteran’s Day.
On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, World War I ended. This day became known as “Armistice Day.” In 1921, an unknown World War I American soldier was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Similarly, unknown soldiers had been buried in England at Westminster Abbey and at France at the Arc de Triomphe. All of these memorials took place on November 11th to commemorate the end of the “war to end all wars.”
In 1926, Congress resolved to officially call November 11th Armistice Day. Then in 1938, the day was named a national holiday. Soon afterwords war broke out in Europe and World War II began.
Soon after the end of World War II, a veteran of that war named Raymond Weeks organized “National Veterans Day” with a parade and festivities to honor all veterans. He chose to hold this on Armistice Day. Thus began annual observances of a day to honor all veterans not just the end of World War I. In 1954, Congress officially passed and President Eisenhower signed a bill proclaiming November 11 as Veteran’s Day. Due to his part in the creation of this national holiday, Raymond Weeks received the Presidential Citizens Medal from President Reagan in November 1982.
In 1968, Congress changed the national commemoration of Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October. However, the significance of November 11 was such that the changed date never really got established. In 1978, Congress returned the observance of Veterans Day to its traditional date.
National ceremonies commemorating Veterans Day occur each year at the the memorial amphitheater built around the Tomb of the Unknowns. At 11 AM on November 11, a color guard representing all military services executes “Present Arms” at the tomb. Then the presidential wreath is laid upon the tomb. Finally, the bugler plays taps.
Each Veterans Day should be a time when Americans stop and remember the brave men and women who have risked their lives for the United States of America. As Dwight Eisenhower said, “…it is well for us to pause, to acknowledge our debt to those who paid so large a share of freedom’s price. As we stand here in grateful remembrance of the veterans’ contributions we renew our conviction of individual responsibility to live in ways that support the eternal truths upon which our Nation is founded, and from which flows all its strength and all its greatness.”
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
November 11, 2024 at 6:57 pm
Hi Kat,
My father served at Ft. Dix New Jersey for his entire 18 months in the U.S. Army. Even in WWII, my father should have been classified by the draft board as 4F, Not suitable for military service. He was put in a platoon of other men who should have been classified 4F, so he became a jeep driver in the MP, Military Police.
I escaped the Vietnam era draft by playing the odds. When the first draft lottery was established in 1968, I gave up my college draft deferment so I could participate in the lottery. I figured everyone who was eligible would be in that first lottery. If I didn’t get a good number, then ai was planning to enlist in the Air Force. My birthday came up number 347. That determined the draft order during the entire year, anyone with a birthday with a lower number had to be drafted first. The lottery’s afterwards only included men who had just turned eighteen years of age.
Getting a physician to write your draft board that you had bone spurs in your feet, only worked for our President-Elect. He and I were geographically in the same draft board. My father didn’t have the money to pay off the draft board members, like Fred Trump did. Trump lived in the exclusive part of Queens, called Jamaica Estates. When my aunt wanted to sound snooty, she would tell people we lived in Jamaica Estates. In reality we lived in the far suburb of the Estates which was made up of middle class people.
Trump’s father owned many of the apartment buildings in the neighborhood. Fred Trump made sure that they never rented to blacks or Puerto Ricans. The southern boundary of my High School was designed to keep my high school, Lilly white. Trump didn’t attend my High School but was sent to Military school.
November 11, 2024 at 7:28 pm
Hi Bob,
My father was in the navy. His ship did the route in the North Atlantic ferrying supplies. It was sunk. He was the only one saved from his end of the ship. That was 1944 He was in a hospital in Plymouth, England for a long time as they thought he would lose his legs from the cold water. He didn’t. He was all of just 18.
I remember sitting with a whole bar full of people watching the first draft on TV. You could hear the groans of guys whose numbers were pulled early. They would be drafted after their student deferments ended. During that time the Peace Corps was draft deferrable for the two years. In my program in 1969 there were 100 guys and 24 women, some of them wives.
Trump’s father was quite the human being. His son follows in his footsteps except for the alcohol.