November 11 is Veterans Day but it hasn’t always been called that and it was even on a different date for a few years.
In the fall of 1918 the United States was involved in the World War in Europe as part of the Allied Forces that included Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy and Japan fighting against the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire.
At 5 a.m. on November 11, an armistice was agreed upon between the Allied Forces and the Central Powers. France’s Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, sent word to Allied commanders that “Hostilities will be stopped on the entire front beginning at 11 o’clock, November 11th [French hour].” The Allied powers signed a ceasefire agreement with Germany at Compiégne, France at 11 a.m. on November 11, 1918 (the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month), thus bringing an end to the war that we now know as World War I.
The first Armistice Day was proclaimed the next year on November 11, 1919 by President Woodrow Wilson with these words: “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…”
An act of Congress, approved on May 13, 1938, made November 11, a legal federal holiday.
On November 5, 1945 President Truman issued this proclamation: “I, HARRY S. TRUMAN, President of the United States of America, do hereby call upon the people of the United States to observe November 11, 1945, as Armistice Day by recalling the valor and the sacrifices of those Americans who brought victory in 1918, and by dedicating themselves to the building of an enduring peace among the countries of the world; and I direct that the flag of the United States be displayed on all Government buildings on that day. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed.”
At the urging of veterans’ organizations, in 1954 Congress changed the name from Armistice Day to Veterans Day to honor service members who had served in all of the nation’s wars.
Then in 1968, the Uniform Holiday Bill was signed. It was intended to ensure three-day weekends for Federal employees by celebrating four national holidays on Mondays: Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Columbus Day. The first Veterans Day under the new law was observed on October 25, 1971 to much confusion. The overwhelming majority of state legislatures, all major veterans service organizations and the American people felt that the commemoration of Veterans Day was a matter of historic and patriotic significance. Because of this, on September 20, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed a new law which returned the annual observance of Veterans Day to its original date of November 11, beginning in 1978.
The Camden Community is home to the longest WWI memorial in the country – the Victory Memorial Drive and it has a special significance on Veterans Day. On the ground to the north of the Victory Memorial flagpole, there is a long marker the reads “Armistice Day 1918.” If there is some sun on Veterans Day morning, the shadow of the flagpole will fall across this marker at 11 a.m. – the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month!