Veterans Day

Fred Borch is a lawyer and historian. He was Professor of Legal History and Leadership for 18 years at The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School located at the University of Virginia. He served 25 years in the Army as a uniformed attorney. After retiring from active duty, Fred took a job in the U.S. Government as the only career historian whose focus was exclusively on military legal history. He has seven degrees, including an M.A. in history from the University of Virginia.

Every year, on November 11, we observe Veterans Day. While it is a Federal Holiday, which means a day off for many Americans, it is not really a day to celebrate but rather to reflect on the sacrifices made by those who have fallen in battle. It is also a day to honor all Americans who have served in the U.S. armed forces.

The idea of honoring veterans began after World War I. The Allies and Germany signed an armistice—a ceasefire—that ended the fighting at 11 am on November 11, 1918. Some two million men were serving in the U.S. Army in Europe on that day, and more than 58,000 had been killed in combat. Another 63,000 had died in accidents and from disease, mostly from the 1918 influenza pandemic. The British and French together had lost more than two million soldiers in battle, and there was a desire among the Allies to remember the sacrifice these soldiers had made. The result was that a year later, Great Britain, Canada, France, and the United States set aside November 11 as “Armistice Day” to be a day of remembrance for all Allied soldiers killed in World War I.

In the United States, President Woodrow Wilson declared November 11, 1919, as the first Armistice Day. To Wilson, the idea was for the day to “be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory.” The concept was for there to be a moment of silence at 11 am and also for there to be parades and public meetings.

Canadians also began observing a moment of silence at 11 am on the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Great Britain, however, decided to observe Armistice Day on the Sunday nearest November 11 and called it Remembrance Sunday.

In 1926, after 27 state legislatures declared Armistice Day a legal holiday on November 11, the U.S. House and Senate passed a concurrent resolution asking the U.S. President to issue a proclamation calling upon government officials to display the American flag. Americans were also invited to obverse the day in schools, churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies.

Eight years later, in 1938, the U.S. Congress enacted legislation making Armistice Day a Federal holiday “dedicated to the cause of world peace.”

In the United States, the practice of observing Armistice Day continued after World War II. It remained a day to honor and remember World War I veterans until 1954, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had served as the Allied Commander in Europe during World War II, signed legislation that officially declared that November 11 would now be known as Veterans Day, honoring all Veterans not just those who had given their lives. The impetus for this change came from veterans organizations who insisted that with millions of Americans having served in World War II and the Korean War, it was time to honor and remember all who had worn Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard uniforms in the service of the United States.

Today, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs serves as the Chairman of the Veterans Day National Committee, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has overall responsibility for events celebrating our veterans, past and present. Special ceremonies are held at Arlington National Cemetery and other military gravesites throughout the country. Veterans organizations like the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars hold parades and ceremonies honoring veterans. Veterans Day also is a traditional day for U.S. naturalization ceremonies.

In the future, it is important that we continue to celebrate Veterans Day for at least three reasons.

1. While less than one percent of American adults serve in the active duty armed forces today, there will always be veterans among us, if for no other reason than that the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to “raise and support armies” and “provide for the common Defense.”
2. Those men and women who elect to join the military are serving our nation, and this selfless service deserves our respect.
3. On the whole, it is not much to ask of Americans today to take a few moments once a year to remember those veterans who gave their lives in the service of our country and give thanks for their sacrifice.