Being a service organization for Veterans, the American Legion sees the best, the worst and everything in between when it comes to helping our brothers and sisters who have served in the uniforms of the United States Armed Forces. We have as our membership survivors from every war fought since WWII. We’ve laid to rest members too numerous to count, along with others who weren’t part of our membership but who served and deserved the honors we could pay to them.
On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the armistice was signed ending WWI. Armistice Day, as it was originally known, officially received its name in America in 1926 through a Congressional resolution. It became a national holiday 12 years later by similar Congressional action. November 11 might still be called Armistice Day if WWII had not broken out just a few years later.
The first celebration using the term Veterans Day occurred in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1947. Raymond Weeks, a World War II veteran, organized “National Veterans Day,” which included a parade and other festivities, to honor all veterans. The event was held on November 11, then designated Armistice Day. Later, U.S. Representative Edward Rees of Kansas proposed a bill that would change Armistice Day to Veterans Day. In 1954, Congress passed the bill that President Eisenhower signed proclaiming November 11 as Veterans Day. Raymond Weeks received the Presidential Citizens Medal from President Reagan in November 1982. Weeks’ local parade and ceremonies are now an annual event celebrated nationwide.
While it is important to know the history of Veterans Day, it is equally important to recognize the service and sacrifice of everyone who has ever worn the uniform.
So, when you meet a veteran you don’t know, thank them for their service. Thank them for risking their life to protect your freedom. Thank them for leaving their family behind and spending some of the most important years of their life away from those they loved.
And tell them “Welcome Home”.
The Ron Asby North Cobb American Legion Post 304 would like to say both Thank You and Welcome Home to all our members, and to all the veterans not our members but who deserve equal recognition.
