Today is Veterans Day.  We celebrate the Men and Women who fight for our Freedom and the Freedom of other people around the world. The Copperas Cove Veterans Day parade will start at 9:30 today.  Here is a little Veterans day History for You.   Veterans Day began as Armistice Day, to celebrate the end of World War I.  Fighting ended between the Allied nations and Germany on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”

In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day.  In  May 13, 1938,  the 11th of November was designated  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 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting in its place the word "Veterans." With the approval of this legislation on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.

Later that same year, on October 8th, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first "Veterans Day Proclamation.

President Eisenhower signs the Veterans Day Bill/Photo from US Department of Veterans Affairs
President Eisenhower signs the Veterans Day Bill/Photo from US Department of Veterans Affairs
loading...

Despite the Monday Holiday Bill, Veterans Day continues to be observed on November 11, regardless of what day of the week on which it falls.

 

More From KUSJ-FM