Veterans Day
Veterans Day
The armistice of 1918 is now recognized as the official end of World War I, because Germans and Allied nations declared temporary peace then. The number 11 defines the hour, the day and the month that it happened; years later, November 11 is known as Veterans Day.
At the beginning, since 1919, Americans used to celebrate Armistice Day, but the name changed due to the massive US army mobilization and contribution to World War II. Nowadays the date commemorates not only the brave military forces in the Great War, but all American veterans. The US Department of Veteran Affairs emphasizes that the name of the holiday should not be spelled with an apostrophe, because the veterans do not own it, but should be understood as its heroes. Hence the rejection of the names “Veteran’s –,” or “Veterans’ Day”.
This holiday ought not to be confused with Memorial Day, which is the date when people killed in war are remembered.
President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed first appreciation of the date in 1919. The commemoration included parades and other public events, such as an honoring of 11 o’clock. The US Congress endorsed this tradition on June 4, 1926, but it was not until the Congressional Act of 1938 that Armistice Day was officially introduced into the list of federal holidays. By that time, already 27 states had adopted this date as a legal holiday.
Beginning with the proposal of a Second World War veteran Raymond Weeks in 1945, the idea to expand the meaning of Armistice Day had been developing until 1954, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the 83rd US Congress proclaimed that November 11 would from now on embrace all American war veterans, not only those who had served in the Great War. On June 1, the official name of the holiday became “Veterans Day”, and the National Veterans Award was established. For a brief period from 1971 to 1978, the date of November 11 was changed into the last Monday of October, but it proved to be ineffective.
America mostly commemorates its veterans with parades, themed church masses and federal events that feature ex-soldiers and war heroes. The Star Spangled Banner hangs at half mast from government buildings and private homes, and at 11 a.m. many people engage in the moment of silence. The schools that remain open during this holiday organize special lessons or assemblies. Most schools, nevertheless, similarly to some private businesses and all postal offices, choose to take the day off.
Because it is a federal holiday, government institutions close for the day, and if November 11 falls on a weekend, the holiday is observed on the preceding Friday or the following Monday. Local governments are not forced to celebrate this holiday with a day off, but many choose to comply with the federal rule.
American patriotism has its another illustration in Veterans Day; the citizens show their appreciation for the sacrifice that soldiers make for the country. The political value of this holiday would grow if the adjacent Election Day would merge with it; social commentators remark that having a day off to vote and commemorate wartime bravery might become a great celebration of national loyalty and democracy.