Reflections On War
This Wednesday, November 11 is Veterans Day. On May 13, 1938, Armistice was made a legal holiday, a day dedicated to the cause of world peace. In 1953 the day was expanded to celebrate all veterans of war and on May 26, 1954, Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the observation of Veterans Day on November 11 of each year.
I find it quite poignant that we are reading Whitman’s war poetry as Veterans Day approaches.
In honor of all the men and women who have fought in the wars, present and past, I would like to take a moment to say thank you. And for those we have lost, a moment of silence.
For those we have lost….
My father’s father, Warren T. Schneider, was in the Army Infantry in WWII. It was 1944. He was killed in a recognizance mission in the French Pyrenees mountains. He was 22 years old. My dad was eight days old.
Each Memorial Day my father and I put flowers at his fathers grave. A few years ago it became clear just how young my grandfather was when he died. As I looked through the cemetery, I saw it with a different set of eyes than ever before. These men were the same age as the men and women fighting in our present war.
Our present war…
…our future veterans.
Regardless of your thoughts and opinions on war, I urge you to take a moment to thank a soldier on Wednesday. And if you feel compelled, leave a thought here about those who fight, those we’ve lost, those we love.
Filed in Uncategorized One Response so far
bmzreece on 12 Nov 2009 at 2:02 pm #
I was not aware of the history of Veterans Day. President Wilson declared “Armistice Day” on November 11 in 1919 [celebrating the end of “The Great War”], Congress passed a concurrent about seven years after, and the Congressional Act “dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day'” was then passed 12 after that.
So in total, it was almost 20 years from the time Wilson first officially recognized the day until its becoming an American holiday. The day “dedicated to the cause of world peace” was to become official only just over a year before the outbreak of world war, and as such would only have been celebrated once before the success it initially celebrated would be nullified.
And [as you mention] it was right after that Eisenhower signing that “Armistice Day” became “Veterans Day.”
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Jillian. And it is indeed quite appropriate that we are reading Whitman’s war poetry around the time of Veterans Day.