Two Minutes of Silence

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month marked the end of hostilities across much of Europe between the Central Powers and the Allies of the War to End All Wars. The armistice that started at 11:00 AM, November 11, 1918 eventually led to the Treaty of Versailles signed by the Allies and Germany, and to the eventual final treaty that brought World War I to a complete close on July 24, 1923.

Despite the political posturing of so many countries as the war ground to a halt, Armistice Day was quickly set aside by many nations as a day to remember those who gave their lives in defense of their countries during a war in which over 15 million people were killed. Remembrance Day in the British Commonwealth, National Day in Poland, the Day of Peace in Flanders Fields for Belgium, and Armistice Day for many countries such as France and the United States.

History of Veterans Day

By Presidential Proclamation, Woodrow Wilson declared the first Armistice Day in the U.S. for 11 November, 1919. Congress passed an Act in 1938 which made November 11 a legal holiday "...to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day'."

After World War II, a bill was ushered through the U.S. Congress that changed the intent of the holiday to All Veterans Day. The bill was signed into law by President Eisenhower in May of 1954, and Congress amended the Act to change the name of the holiday from 'Armistice Day' to 'Veterans Day'.

Although it is common to see several different spellings, such as Veteran's Day, or Veterans' Day, the Federal Government uses 'Veterans Day' without an apostrophe. Although each spelling is grammatically correct, dropping the apostrophe makes the word Veterans an adjective and not possessive as the first two spellings. That was the original intent of the change to include all veterans.

Personal Veterans Days

My family does not march from a long line of military heroes, but my maternal grandfather and my Father both fought in Europe, in different wars but possibly over the same ground. Grandpa 'Jake' served in Europe during WWI with the 116^th Infantry Regiment and was wounded during a gas attack on his unit's position. Grandpa 'Jake' lived while over 116,000 of his comrades marched on to Valhalla.

Some of my earliest memories of my Father revolve around his activities with Veterans' Organizations. Assigned to the 19^th Ordnance Battalion during World War II he marched with General Patton's Third Army across Europe and into Germany during some of the bitterest fighting of the war. Dad survived as over 416,000 of his comrades gave all.

Then along came "my generation's war" in Vietnam. Antiwar demonstrations punctuated the evening news of the day's fighting in Southeast Asia and the ratios of enemy killed to Americans killed. I still live, but over 58,000 of my comrades paid the ultimate price.

Korea. Afghanistan. Iraq. The call to arms in defense of our nation is still answered by our Nation's youth. Many come home. Many do not.

My war has been over for 35 years, but I am moved each year to observe 2 minutes of silence in memory of all Veterans at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.