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ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. (Nov. 9, 2012) -- World War I
happened nearly a century ago in Europe. Frank Buckles, the last
living American WWI Veteran, died last year at the age of 110. It
was the sacrifice of he and of his fellow service members that
inspired the holiday Americans are about to observe: Veterans Day.
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A World War I era marching band participates in a parade. Photo courtesy of U.S. Army
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Originally known as Armistice Day to honor the living veterans of
the First World War, Veterans Day has transformed into a holiday
inclusive of service members of all eras. Veterans Day is a national
holiday of remembrance and recognition of all those who served
regardless of branch or duty status, Reserve or active component.
Looking back on Veterans Day as Armistice Day is at once
nostalgic as well as historically mindful. Historian Robert H.
Ferrell of Indiana University Bloomington reminds readers that what
was once a staple celebration represented by World War I era
artifacts and culture was translated into a holiday that could span
generations. In his work, "Oatmeal and Coffee: Memoirs of a Hoosier
Soldier in World War I," Ferrell outlines those Great War Soldiers
were a very different breed than their World War II counterparts.
Doughboys, as World War I Soldiers were called, were not the same as
the Yanks or G.I.s of World War II.
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ARMISTICE DAY
An armistice, or temporary cease
fire, between the Allied Nations and Germany stopped the
fighting of World War I on November 11, 1918. Known at the
time as the Great War, the end of combat became effective on
the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day
of the eleventh month. The official end of the war would not
come for another seven months, on June 28, 1919, when the
Treaty of Versailles was signed. A publication from 1918,
America Magazine, marked the day as one of triumph and joy,
even amongst those suffering from losses. A passage from
this magazine read: "There would be time and enough in the
future to grieve for the ravages was had wrought in their
own lives, but on the day of the armistice all gave way to
universal rejoicing, because mankind was once more free."
President
Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first "Armistice Day" on Nov.
11, 1919, to show solemn pride in the heroism of those who
died in the country's service. Wilson declared "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." The original concept for the celebration
was for the suspension of business for a two minute period
beginning at 11 a.m., with the day also marked by parades
and public meetings.
In 1920, France and the United
Kingdom each held ceremonies honoring their unknown dead
from the war. An "unknown soldier" of the Great War was
buried in each nation's highest place of honor: in England,
Westminster Abbey; in France, the Arc de Triomphe. This
holiday is now known as Remembrance Day in Canada, the
United Kingdom, France, and Belgium, and commemorates all
who served.
In 1921, an unknown American Soldier was
interred at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.
Armistice Day officially received its name in America in
1926 through a Congressional Resolution (44 Stat. 1982).
This proclamation read: "It is fitting that the recurring
anniversary of this date should be commemorated to
perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding
between nations."
CHANGES IN OBSERVANCE
In
1938, Congress declared Armistice Day a legal holiday (52
Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a), to be held the 11th of
November in each year. This was to be a day to be dedicated
to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated
and known as "Armistice Day."
If World War I had
indeed been "the war to end all wars," Nov. 11, might still
be called Armistice Day. Hostilities across the Pacific
escalated during the 1930s, battles erupted in Europe in
1939, and the world was once again overrun with war. The
ideal of a lasting peace was laid to rest.
Armistice
Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World
War I, but World War II saw the greatest mobilization of
Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen in the Nation's
history. Approximately 16 million Americans served in the
Armed Forces during World War II.
Raymond Weeks of
Birmingham, Ala., organized a Veterans Day parade for that
city on Nov. 11, 1947, to honor all of America's Veterans
for their loyal service. The First World War, unfortunately,
was not the war to end all wars, and both World War II and
the Korean War dramatically increased the number of American
war veterans. Recognizing that Armistice Day was limited to
a specific conflict and group of Soldiers, the name was
changed to Veterans Day in 1954.
Later, U.S.
Representative Edward H. Rees of Kansas proposed legislation
changing the name of Armistice Day to Veterans Day to honor
all who have served in America's Armed Forces. June 1, 1954,
President Dwight Eisenhower signed legislation changing the
name of the legal holiday from Armistice Day to Veterans
Day.
MOVING THE OBSERVANCE
In the 11200s,
federal legislators attempted to make Veteran's Day fall on
a Monday, like Memorial Day and Labor Day. The Uniform
Holiday Bill (Public Law 90-363 (82 Stat. 250)) was signed
on June 28, 1968, to ensure three-day weekends for federal
employees by celebrating four national holidays on Mondays:
Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and
Columbus Day. The intention was to encourage travel,
recreational and cultural activities, and stimulate the
economy during the long weekends.
According to the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, however, many states
did not agree with this decision. The U.S. Army Center of
Military history reports that "forty-six states had either
continued to commemorate November 11 or had reverted back to
the original date based on popular sentiment."
Confusing and unpopular, the first Veterans Day under the
new law was observed on October 25, 1971. It mattered to the
citizens that Veterans Day was a specific remembrance, and
not just a generic type of holiday. Sept. 20, 1975,
President Gerald Ford signed a law which returned the annual
observance of Veterans Day to its original date of Nov. 11,
beginning in 1978.
COLLECTIVE MEMORY AND THE MODERN
HOLIDAY
Just as personal memories evolve throughout
the course of life, so to do things like memorials and
holidays. What used to be recognized as a celebration of the
end of "the war to end all wars," our modern consciousness
sees it differently. It once commemorated a specific day and
a group of people involved, and now is emblematic of service
and sacrifice for all military members.
In Sarah E.
Drake's article from 2002, "The Postwar Home Front:
Memorializing Veterans," she wrote about how those service
members from World War II and the Korean War actually
witnessed this holiday's evolution firsthand. In 1958,
unknown American service members from both of these
conflicts were also interred at Arlington National Cemetery,
which transformed the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to the
Tomb of the Unknowns. The 1921 remembrance of a lone World
War I Soldier would be forever changed as these other war
dead are now honored there as well.
Historian
Gabrielle Kalapos theorizes that the selection of Nov. 11 as
a day for the cease fire "may simply be a coincidence" but
this day had ancient historic meaning in the old Roman
Julian calendar. In her book, The Origins of Modern
Holidays, she posits that not only is fall the season for
remembering and commemorating the deceased, but that
holidays for this were already part of the European
tradition long before World War I.
Celtic Samhain
and the Germanic Day of the Dead were both celebrated Nov.
11, until the switch to the modern Gregorian calendar moved
those days to Nov. 1. In addition, Martinmas, or St.
Martin's Day, was celebrated on Nov. 11, once Christianity
was established in Northern Europe. Named after St. Martin,
a Roman soldier who longed for the life of a Christian monk,
died on this date in 397 C.E. While an interesting theory,
this notion outlines that honoring the dead was long part of
the collective Western psyche long before the hostilities of
World War I.
The joyous celebrations of those early
Armistice Days should not be forgotten as Americans
celebrate Veterans Day. The Revolutionary War hero Nathan
Hale said he regretted that he had "but one life to lose for
my country." This year, as in all years, it is a time to
give thanks for those who have served, pay respect to those
who have come home, and honor those who paid the ultimate
sacrifice.
By Chrissie Reilly, Staff Historian, U.S. Army CECOM
Army News Service
Copyright 2012
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