Happy Veterans Day
Happy Veteran Day everyone and thank to the valiant men and women of military for protecting from harm.
Veterans Day, formerly Armistice Day, is an annual American holiday
honoring military veterans. It is a federal holiday that is
observed on November 11. It is coincides with other holidays such as Armistice
Day or Remembrance Day, which are celebrated in other parts of the world
and also mark the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that
ended World War I. Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at
the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing
of the Armistice. An armistice is a situation in a war where
the warring parties agree to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a
war, but may be just a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is
made to negotiate a lasting peace. It other words it mean a truce or a
ceasefire.
The U.S. President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed
an Armistice Day for November 11, 1919. In proclaiming the holiday, he said
"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 the
nations."
The United States Congress passed a concurrent resolution
seven years later on June 4, 1926, requesting that the President Calvin
Coolidge issue another proclamation to observe November 11 with
appropriate ceremonies. An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U.S. Code, Sec. 87a)
approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year 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 1953, an Emporia, Kansas man named Alvin King
the owner of a shoe repair shop, had the idea to expand Armistice Day to
celebrate all veterans, not just those who died in World War I. Alvin King
had been actively involved with the American War Dads during World War II.
He began a campaign to turn Armistice Day into "All"
Veterans Day. The Emporia Chamber of Commerce took up the cause after
determining that 90% of Emporia merchants as well as the Board of Education
supported closing their doors on November 11 to honor all veterans. With the
help of U.S. Representative Ed Rees, also from Emporia, a bill for the holiday
was pushed through Congress. President Dwight Eisenhower signed it
into law on May 26, 1954. Congress amended this act on June 1, 1954, replacing
"Armistice" with "Veterans," and it has been known as
Veterans Day since.
Because it is a federal holiday, many American people
have the day off from school or work for Veterans Day. A Society for Human
Resource Management poll in 2010 found that 21 percent of employers
planned to observe the holiday in 2011.
Employers in Iowa are required by state law to provide
a day off on Veterans Day to each employee who is a veteran if the employee
would otherwise be required to work on that day, unless the employer would
experience significant economic or operational disruption.Non-essential federal government offices are closed. No mail
is delivered. All federal workers are paid for the holiday; those who are
required to work on the holiday sometimes receive wages for that day in
addition to holiday pay.
Men of the Armed Forces
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