Exactly ninety years ago, at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the fighting stopped between the Allied nations and Germany, and “the war to end all wars” was finally over. The next year, President Woodrow Wilson declared November 11 Armistice Day, stating in his 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 had 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 original concept for celebrating Armistice Day was that there would be parades and public gatherings, and a brief cessation of normal business beginning at 11 a.m.
In 1938, Armistice Day became a legal holiday—a day dedicated to celebrating world peace and honoring the veterans of the Great War.
The next two decades revealed that the Great War was not “the war to end all wars.” There were more wars and more veterans—the Second World War required the greatest mobilization of troops in the country’s history—and in 1954, at the urging of veterans’ organizations, Armistice Day became Veterans Day, and November 11 became the day to honor American veterans of all wars.
The Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which took effect in January 1971, made Veterans Day one of the “always on Monday” holidays, but abandoning the historic significance of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in the eleventh month was unacceptable to many Americans, and in 1978 the observance of Veterans Day returned to its original date.
Still this year saw, throughout the county, Veterans Day celebrations held on different days. In Chatham, Veterans Day was observed on Saturday, November 8. In Ghent, the Veterans Day commemoration took place on Sunday, November 9. In Valatie and Hudson, Veterans Day observances took place in accordance with tradition on Tuesday, November 11.
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