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| About Veterans Day
What is a veteran? A veteran is a warrior who served in a war and is still alive. How did Veterans Day get started? June 4, 1926: US Congress adopted a resolution requesting that the President call for the observance of November 11th as "Armistice Day". [ Armistice: a Latin-based word combining "arma" (weapon) with "stice" (stop); as with the word solstice is a combination of sol (sun) + stice (stops) ]. [Note: denotatively "stice" means to stand still; but connotatively it means to stop walking. On a summer solstice, the sun stops moving higher in the heavens and on a winter solstice, the sun stops moving lower in the heavens. Thus, an armistice means to stop using weapons.] [See my winter solstice page for details about winter solstice traditions all around the world.] After World War I ended, the idea was to celebrate peace--world peace, and thus "Armistice Day" was born. 1945: Armistice Day was expanded to celebrate all veterans. This was suggested by World War II veteran Raymond Weeks, who was later dubbed "The father of veteran's day". 1954: Congress passed a bill establishing "Veteran's Day" as a national holiday. It was signed by President Eisenhower. Since then, it has been known as "Veteran's Day". How do we celebrate Veterans Day? (1) We fly the U.S.'s flag. (2) We honor our veterans at home, at work, at the city level, at the state level, and at the national level. How that looks is up to each person in charge of the celebration. (3) It is not a day-off of work for everyone, but it is for some. Non-essential government workers will get the day off, if it occurs on a work day. Schools may give the day off to students, but that's not always the case. For those companies that require their employees to work that day, the holiday is usually celebrated at work, especially if there are any employees that are veterans. Veterans are recognized and honored at work by some kind of ceremony. It is not elaborate, and it usually doesn't take the employees away from their work for long. However, it is nice to have that recognition take place. I work at Walmart now, and Walmart honors their veterans every year at/around November 11th. We do not get the day off. (4) I did not know this before making this page, but there is a federal recommendation that two minutes of silence be observed at 2:11pm. (Since I did not know this, you can see that it hasn't been observed in most places). Sad History Unfortunately, Americans did not always celebrate their veterans, even after it became a national holiday. During the return of soldiers from the Vietnam War, our veterans were not treated well. (Personally, that makes me sad. It wasn't the soldiers fault.) It wasn't until after 9/11, that the returning soldiers from the Iraq war were treated with the honor and respect that they deserve for putting their lives on the line in service to our country. I personally know a veteran, named Marcus, who took a bullet for us, and I honor him. He is one of my heroes. Thank you, Marcus the Marine. And, thank you, Zack the Sailor. And, thank you, Ira. Special Mentions In my opinion, no president has done more for our veterans than President D.J.Trump. Here are some links to videos to watch: President D.J.Trump gives a speech (and was the first president
to do so) at the NYC Veteran's Day Parade. The greatest state-of-the-union address ever given by any
president, and while it was not on Veteran's Day, many of our veterans
were honored thereat... Homework Surely, you know a veteran. Do something nice for that person the week of Veteran's Day. And, may we have peace on Earth. Caution Peace is not achieved by having a weak military, but rather by having a strong one--a strong one that is only used for defense.
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Living Heroes As President D.J.Trump said in his speech (linked above), our Veterans are literal living heroes. But, there are deceased ones, too. On Memorial Day (May 25th) we honor those warriors who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Coming next May, See my Memorial Day page for more information.
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