Veterans Day

Veterans Day

Set aside to honor all who have served in the armed forces of the United States, Veterans Day is the American descendant of what once was observed, and what many countries still observe, as Armistice Day- commemorating the end of World War I.

At precisely the eleventh hour, on the morning of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month, of 1918, the guns suddenly fell silent along the Belgian lowlands and hedgerows- ending what was, at that point in time, the costliest and deadliest war in human history. Six hours before, the Allied and Central Powers signed the armistice formally bringing an end to the hostilities. The armistice was to take effect at 11:00 am, local time. The very day before, more than 2,700 men lost their lives in a deadlocked war which, all told, saw the deaths of more than 8 million, including 116,708 Americans. According to prevailing thought at the time, World War I was supposed to be the war that would end all wars. Ironically, it proved to set up the scenario for the Second World War, in the third decade following, and all of the world history that ensued, ever since.

The ending of the First World War was commemorated as Armistice Day, here in the United States until 1954, when an act of Congress changed its designation to Veterans Day, honoring all who have ever served in the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard. As opposed to Memorial Day, honoring those who lost their lives while serving, Veterans Day honors all who have ever served- living and dead. It is a day to thank those who put country before self, and swore to protect this country from “all enemies, foreign and domestic,” with their very lives, if necessary. In short, it is their day.

Without reservation, it is these individuals who all of us should thank, while also calling to mind the silence of that eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month, of 1918, when the guns fell silent in the hopes that we might finally see the end of war,  for all time.

That hope still lives in the hearts of all good people, everywhere.

Happy Veterans Day.

 

-Drew Nickell, Veterans Day, 2017

© 2017 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”

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