“Veterans Day” by Santa Ynez Valley Holiday Historian, John Copeland (Nov 11, 2013) This Monday, November 11th, is Veterans Day and a great example of how the meanings and traditions of our holidays change over time. As a holiday, Veterans’ Day is less than one hundred years old and the alterations to Veterans Day have happened within our lifetimes rather than over a span of centuries like other holidays. It is an interesting tale. This story begins in 1918. In the early morning hours of November 11th, a luxurious railway coach sits on a siding in the Forest of Compiegene of France. Inside, at 5 am delegates from the Allies (France, England and the United States) and Germany, after four years of bloody conflict, signed an armistice bringing an end to the fighting of World War I. The terms of the agreement called for the cessation of fighting along the entire Western Front to begin at precisely 11 am that morning. Colonel Thomas Gowenlock, an intelligence officer in the American 1st Division, was on the front line that November morning and wrote of his experience: On the morning of November 11 I sat in my dugout in Le Gros Faux…talking to our Chief of Staff, Colonel John Greely, and Lieutenant Colonel Paul Peabody… A signal corps officer entered and handed us the following message: Official Radio from Paris - 6:01 A.M., Nov. 11, 1918. Marshal Foch to the Commander-in-Chief. 1. Hostilities will be stopped on the entire front beginning at 11 oclock, November 11th (French hour). 2. The Allied troops will not go beyond the line reached at that hour on that date until further orders. [signed] MARSHAL FOCH 5:45 A.M. All over the world on November 11, 1918, people were celebrating, dancing in the streets, drinking champagne, hailing the armistice that meant the end of the war. But at the front there was no celebration. Many soldiers believed the Armistice only a temporary measure and that the war would soon go on. As night came, the quietness, unearthly in its penetration, began to eat into their souls. The men sat around log fires, the first they had ever had at the front. They were trying to reassure themselves that there were no enemy batteries spying on them from the next hill and no German bombing planes approaching to blast them out of existence. They talked in low tones. They were nervous. What was to come next? They did not know - and hardly cared. Their minds were numbed by the shock of peace. The past consumed their whole consciousness. The present did not exist-and the future was inconceivable. As the guns fell silent, dispatches from both sides recorded “All Quiet on the Western Front.” November 11, 1918, has always been regarded as the end of World War I and became known internationally as Armistice Day”. World War I didn’t “officially” end until June 28, 1919 with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. The First World War was the first modern war that embroiled pretty much the entire world. Battles were fought in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, the Pacific, the Atlantic, and even in Africa. Called The Great War and also The War to End All Wars it was a terrible conflict that decimated an entire generation of young men from France, England and it’s Commonwealth Countries, Germany, Austria, Turkey and Russia. This generation, at the time was often referred to as “The Lost Generation.” America was luckier, we had only entered the war in 1917 our casualties were nothing like those endured by other combatant nations, which totaled over 15 million dead. In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11th as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: 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… In England and France, to commemorate the end of the Great War,” an unknown soldier was buried in the highest place of honor at Westminster Abbey in England and at the Arc de Triomphe in France. These ceremonies took place on November 11th, celebrating the ending of World War I hostilities at 11 a.m. In 1921, the United States of America followed France and England interring the remains of an unknown World War I American soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. Originally known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, today it is called the Tomb of the Unknowns. In 1958, two more unidentified American soldiers; one that died in World War II, and one from the Korean War were buried alongside the World War I. In 1984, an unknown American soldier who died in the Viet Nam War was also interred in the Tomb of the Unknowns. But, due to the advancements in science with DNA testing, in 1998 the unknown soldier from the Viet Nam War was finally identified as Michael Blassie, a 24 year old, Air Force pilot shot down in May 1972 near the Cambodian border. His body was disinterred and reburied by his family in St. Louis, Missouri. I’ve gone off on a tangent, my apologies. November 11th officially became Armistice Day by an act of Congress in 1926. But, it wasnt until 12 years later, in 1938, that Armistice Day became a national holiday. The original idea for the observance of Armistice Day was as a day of parades and public gatherings and a brief moment of silence at 11 a.m. There was a profound hope that World War I would be the last major conflict the world would experience. Had this been true, the holiday might still be called Armistice Day today. But that dream was shattered in 1939 when World War II erupted in Europe. After the end of the Second World War the celebration of Armistice Day got little attention or acknowledgement. In 1947, Raymond Weeks, of Birmingham Ala., organized a Veterans Day parade on November 11th to honor all of Americas veterans for their loyal and dedicated service. About the same time, a shoe cobbler in Emporia, Kansas named Alvin J. King, was looking for a way to honor his nephew who was killed during WWII and acknowledge all veterans, teamed together with Kansas Congressman Ed Rees and introduced a bill to Congress to change the name of the holiday from Armistice Day to Veterans Day. King and Rees efforts were successful and Emporia, Kansas, today is considered the birth place of Veteran’s Day. In 1954, President Eisenhower signed a bill proclaiming November 11th Veteran’s Day, and called upon Americans everywhere to rededicate themselves to the cause of peace. I still remember the holiday from my school days in the 1950s and early 1960s. Back then November 11th still had a very strong association with WWI, and buying Red Poppies from Veterans on street corners and wearing them on your lapel was traditional way of observing the holiday. For the most part, this tradition is not as widely followed as it once was but it still survives in other parts of the world on November 11th. So, in less than thirty years, Armistice Day had evolved it no longer focused on a single event - the end of World War I and became focused on all veterans who had served in the US military. Then in 1968, in it’s infinite wisdom, Congress passed another bill to move Veteran’s Day to the fourth Monday in October. However November 11th was historically significant to many Americans and both citizens and veterans hounded Congress to restore the holiday to its original date. It took 10 years, which I guess is pretty fast for Congress, and in 1978, Congress reversed itself and returned the holiday to November 11th. The restoration of Veteran’s Day to November 11th not only preserves the historical significance of the date, but helps focus attention on the important purpose of Veteran’s Day: a holiday to honor Americas veterans. Veteran’s Day is a potent emblem of our democracy. Aristotle believed the underlying principle of democracy is freedom, since only in a democracy can the citizens have a share in freedom. In essence, he wrote that this is what every democracy should make as its aim. There are two main aspects of freedom: being ruled and ruling in turn, since everyone is equal according to number, not merit, and to be able to live as one pleases. Democracy also involves the participation of its citizens to both maintain and preserve it. On Veteran’s Day, we honor those who have helped preserve ours. One of the most personal Veteran’s Day activities for people is to send notes or cards to hospitalized veterans or those living in veterans homes. I grew up in Long Beach, California, and every Veterans Day, my Cub Scout Pack would visit patients at Long Beach Veterans Hospital. It’s interesting how some of the acts of our youth take on greater significance, as we grow older. On every Nov. 11th, I think about my grandma’s three brothers who served in France during WWI. My Uncle Clarence, Uncle Harvel and Uncle Clyde often told us stories about being “over there” when I was a kid. It wasn’t until I was much older that I truly appreciated what they had been through. It was about that time, I discovered a photo album of my Uncle Clarence’s filled with pictures he had taken with a Kodak Brownie camera during the war. It is an amazing window in the past. By then only my Uncle Harvel was still alive, and sometimes over a Coke, his favorite beverage, he shared many experiences from the war with me. He was a truly amazing individual, when he did pass away in 2005, Unc, was the last surviving WWI veteran in Tennessee. So on tomorrow, around 11am, wherever you find yourself, stop for a moment and think of all we owe our veterans. Or better yet, express your appreciation directly to a veteran. I know they’ll appreciate it. John Copeland
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 15:50:25 +0000