Veterans Day 2005

[thome]

The History of Veterans Day
November 11, or what has come to be known as Veterans Day, was originally set as a U.S. legal holiday to honor Armistice Day -- the end of World War I, which officially took place on November 11, 1918. In legislature that was passed in 1938, November 11 was "dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day.'" As such, this new legal holiday honored World War I veterans.

In 1954, after having been through both World War II and the Korean War, the 83rd U.S. Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting the word "Veterans." With the approval of this legislation on June 1, 1954, November 11 became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.

In 1968, the Uniforms Holiday Bill insured three-day weekends for Federal employees by celebrating four national holidays on Mondays: Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Columbus Day. Under this bill, Veterans Day was moved to the last Monday of October. Many states did not agree with this decision and continued to celebrate the holiday on its original date. The first Veterans Day under the new law was observed with much confusion on October 25, 1971.

Finally on September 20, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed a law which returned the annual observance of Veterans Day to its original date of November 11, beginning in 1978. Since then, the Veterans Day holiday has been observed on November 11.

Celebrating the Holiday

If the November 11 holiday falls on a non-workday -- Saturday or Sunday -- the holiday is observed by the federal government on Monday (if the holiday falls on Sunday) or Friday (if the holiday falls on Saturday). Federal government closings are established by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management; a complete schedule can be found here. State and local government closings are determined locally, and non-government businesses can close or remain open as they see fit, regardless of Federal, state or local government operation determinations.

United States Senate Resolution 143, which was passed on August 4, 2001, designated the week of November 11 through November 17, 2001, as "National Veterans Awareness Week." The resolution calls for educational efforts directed at elementary and secondary school students concerning the contributions and sacrifices of veterans.

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.....

We are now engaged in a great civil war..testing wether that nation
or any nation..so conciever and so dedicated can long endure,WE are
met on a great Battle Field of that war........................................

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate. . .we cannot consecrate. . . we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

To me the thome.....
-This is a Day like any other But we pause to honor the People
who gave Us the Freedom thru sacrifice, We enjoy-


:)

[thome]

On a lighter note I meant to put this in- non.

On a even lighter note the only part I typed was the cut of the
Gettysgurg Address.So it would be readable by everyone. I
used paste-up for the rest.

Roth on

Any comments anyone has are welcome.No, not comments about my spellin'.

About your feeling of Veterans Day......

Such as, A friend of mine every year puts his old Army uniform on and
goes to the Vietnam memorial here in KC and meets w/ a bunch
of vets doing the same thing.

[Panamark]

11-11-11

Lest we Forget.

[BITEYOASS]

You have to admit though, that every veteran after WWI had it better off. WWII was the first war in which the number of casulties from actual combat outnumbered the ones from disease and today most casulties are from accidents rather than combat.
But I wouldn't go as far to say that it's a good thing, since it would be better if all of them we're able to live out there lives in the US. Especially a Sergeant from my unit who died in a CH-47 accident over in Afghanistan a few months ago.
As far as WWI is concerned, it had to suck being in those trenches, worrying about machine gun fire, chemical weapons attacks and giant rats feasting on a dead buddy nearby. Being a pilot or a sailor back then was no walk in the park either--since planes were made out of wood and fabric; and when you were shot down, that's it, no parachute was gonna save your day! Then you had the fear of U-boats in the Atlantic, my great grandfather suffered shrapnel wounds from U-boat gunfire while he was aboard a destroyer.
After the war, it got worse. There were no VA hospitals, so the mentally or physically wounded either wound up waiting at insufficient private hospitals, jails or insane asylums. Luckily an organizations such as the American Legion and VFW took action and called on the government to take action.
So let us remember those who sacrified their lives for the freedoms we still hold today.

[Mr. Vengeance]

Thanks dudes!

I read today that there are only 5 living WW I vets alive in Canada. Man, that's wild when you think about it! I also read that in the USA, the 1990 census showed that there were aprox 65,000 WW I vets alive. Since, they've stopped an official count, but they estimate that there are only approx. 50 left!!!

Really wild reality.