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Issue 2, 2007

A N

EWSLETER

OF

THE 97th

Infantry

Division

November, 2007

Written and published by Bob Rowland

The History of Veterans Day

Source: Us Department of Veterans Affairs

In 1921, an unknown World War I American

soldier was buried in Arlington National Ceme-

tery. This site, on a hillside overlooking the Poto-

mac River and the city of Washington, D.C., be-

came the focal point of rever-

ence for America’s veterans.

Similar ceremonies oc-

curred earlier in England and

France, where an unknown sol-

dier was buried in each nation’s

highest place of honor (in Eng-

land, Westminster Abbey; in

France, the Arc de Triomphe).

These memorial gestures all

took place on November 11,

giving universal recognition to

the celebrated ending of World

War I fighting at 11 a.m., No-

vember 11, 1918 (the 11th hour

of the 11th day of the 11th

month). The day became known

as “Armistice Day.”

Armistice Day officially received its name in

America in 1926 through a Congressional resolu-

tion. It became a national holiday 12 years later

by similar Congressional action. If the idealistic

hope had been realized that World War I was “the

War to end all wars,” November 11 might still be

called Armistice Day. But only a few years after

the holiday was proclaimed, war broke out in

Europe. Sixteen and one-half million Americans

took part. Four hundred seven thousand of them

died in service, more than 292,000 in battle.

Armistice Day Changed To Honor All Veterans

The first celebration using the term Veterans

Day occurred in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1947.

Raymond Weeks, a World War II

veteran, organized "National Veter-

ans Day," which included a parade

and other festivities, to honor all

veterans. The event was held on

November 11, then designated Ar-

mistice Day. Later, U.S. Represen-

tative Edward Rees of Kansas pro-

posed a bill that would change Ar-

mistice Day to Veterans Day. In

1954, Congress passed the bill that

President Eisenhower signed pro-

claiming November 11 as Veterans

Day. Raymond Weeks received the

Presidential Citizens Medal from

President Reagan in November

1982. Weeks' local parade and cere-

monies are now an annual event

celebrated nationwide.

On Memorial Day 1958, two more unidentified

American war dead were brought from overseas

and interred in the plaza beside the unknown sol-

dier of World War I. One was killed in World War

II, the other in the Korean War. In 1984, an un-

known serviceman from the Vietnam War was

placed alongside the others. The remains from

Vietnam were exhumed May 14, 1998, identified as

Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie, and re-

moved for burial. To honor these men, symbolic of

all Americans who gave their lives in all wars, an