BY JEAN JACQUES BOHL
The 97th national Veterans Day will be observed Friday, Nov. 11. All government offices and banks will be closed.
While Memorial Day celebrates the fallen of all conflicts in which the U.S. was involved, Veterans Day salutes all who served in the U.S. Armed Forces, dead or alive.
Until 1954, this holiday was known as Armistice Day. It commemorated the day in November 1918 when, at the 11th hour, World War I guns fell silent in Europe for the first time in four years. Germany had capitulated to the allied Western powers of England, France and the U.S.
This marked the end of hostilities, followed six months later with the formal Treaty of Versailles peace treaty in 1919.
The War to End All Wars, as World War I was known then, started in August 1914 between Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire against the Allied forces of Great Britain, the U.S., France, Russia, Italy and Japan. The introduction of modern technology to warfare resulted in unprecedented carnage and destruction, with more than 9 million soldiers killed by the end of the war in November 1918. American casualties totaled 116,708.
On the first anniversary of the armistice, Nov. 11, 1919, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation:
“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, and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of nations.”
A Congressional Act voted on May 13, 1938, made November 11 a legal holiday: “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day’.”
In 1945 a World War II veteran, Raymond Weeks, started a campaign to change Armistice Day to a national Veterans Day, which would celebrate all those who have served in the military. President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved the idea and on June 1, 1954, Congress passed a law changing Armistice Day to Veterans Day.
Britain, France, Australia and Canada also commemorate the veterans of World Wars I and II on or near November 11. In Europe, Britain and the Commonwealth countries, it’s common to observe two minutes of silence at 11 a.m. every November 11.
Idaho mandates that “an appropriate” Veterans Day ceremony be held in public schools. However, schools will not be in session this Friday due to district-wide parent-teacher conferences. Therefore, Wood River High School will hold a Veterans Day assembly at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9. The school’s band, choir and orchestra will perform, and veterans will address the student body. Parents who are veterans are invited to attend.
Wood River Middle School and the Carey School will also have assemblies for Veterans Day.