With Our Deepest Gratitude on this Veterans Day
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the Western Front was quieted, bringing the hostilities of World War I to a close.
On November 11, 1918, Germany and the Allied nations agreed to an armistice – a cease fire, which also included terms that Germany must accept to end the World War: demilitarization, evacuation, and the immediate release of prisoners.
Thereafter, we as a country would continue to honor Armistice Day and the service and sacrifice of so many. In President Woodrow Wilson’s November 11, 1919 address, he remarked:
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 following year in December 1920, proposed legislation would create a “special tomb” at Arlington National Cemetery for commemorative interment of an unknown American soldier from World War I. On March 4, 1921, Congress would pass its Joint Resolution directing the Secretary of War to return:
[T]o the United States the body of an American, who was a member of the American Expeditionary Forces who served in Europe, who lost his life during the World War and whose identity has not been established, for burial in the Memorial Amphitheater of the National Cemetery at Arlington, Virginia.
The repatriated remains, having traveled from Chalons-Sur-Marne in France, across the Atlantic Ocean aboard the USS Olympia, were laid in state in at the Capital before finally being interred on November 11, 1921.
While Armistice Day served as a day of remembrance for decades after the close of World War I, the hostilities of World War II and the Korean War would shape our national view of this solemn day. In 1954, the ardent advocacy of veterans groups would be recognized in both legislation and proclamation.
Presidential Proclamation 3071 issued by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on October 8, 1954 declared:
[…] In order to expand the significance of that commemoration and in order that a grateful Nation might pay appropriate homage to the veterans of all its wars who have contributed so much to the preservation of this Nation, the Congress, by an act approved June 1, 1954 (68 Stat. 168) changed the name of the holiday to Veterans Day.
President Eisenhower’s proclamation further directed:
[…] Let us solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly, on the seas, in the air, and on foreign shores, to preserve our heritage of freedom, and let us reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain.
So every year we strive to embody the profound gratitude that we owe our veterans on this day, and all days. Every year we look for opportunities to adequately convey our thanks, support our veteran population, and listen to the stories and experiences our veteran friends, mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters.
And every year, around this time, we may also look forward to the retail and restaurant discounts and other deals by the dozens. Yet, we should also:
- Listen to the Stories of our Veterans
(Stories from the Veterans History Project)
- Learn about the history of Veterans Day and Armistice Day
- Attend a Veterans Day Celebration or Ceremony, and
- Teach our children the importance of Veterans Day.
This year’s Veterans Day observance theme is “service.” Here at Greene & Marusak, our team will engage in Veterans Day observances and traditions and we hope you will join us. We humbly thank our veteran team members for their service, and we thank our veteran clients and readership for their service and sacrifice. May you find peace, support, and camaraderie on this Veterans Day.