Armistice Day, which honors the official end of World War I on November 11, 1918, falls on the feast of St. Martin of Tours, a pagan soldier who gave up his military career upon becoming a Christian. (Martin Luther, whose birthday was November 10, was baptized on November 11 and given the name of the saint whose feast fell on his baptismal day.) After World War II, the name of Armistice Day was changed to Veterans Day in the United States.
In honor of Veterans Day, I recommend checking out The Legacy Project, a project that seeks to preserve the wartime letters of America’s service personnel. You can listen to readings of a few of the letters, which are on display at the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in New York City.
One of my favorite letters in the collection (Warning: evil .pdf format) was written in July 1969 by a soldier named Dean Allen, a first lieutenant, to his wife Joyce. The letter ended this way:
"Some letter, huh! I don’t know if I have one sentence in the whole thing. I just started writing. Don’t worry about what I have said[,] these are just things I think about sometimes. I am so healthy I can’t get a day out of the field and you know I’m to [sic] damn mean to die. Now I better close for now & try to catch a few z’s. It will be another long night. Sorry I haven’t written more but the weather is against me. You can’t write out here when it rains hour after hour. I love you with all my heart. All my love always, Dean."
The museum reports that four days after writing this letter, Lt. Allen stepped on a land mine. Three days after that, Lt. Dean Allen, a multiply-decorated soldier, died.
Eternal rest grant to all our deceased veterans and may perpetual light shine upon them through Christ our Lord.
I thought Veteran’s Day was the day we honor all military personnel who fought during a war and that Memorial Day was the day we honored those who died while fighting the war. Example, my grandfather who received a Purple Heart in WWII would be honored on Veteran’s Day. His brother who was killed at Pearl Harbor should be remembered on Memorial Day. Am I right? Not being picky, just checking.
I think your distinction is correct, CW. Memorial Day is specifically for fallen veterans and Veterans Day for all veterans. The Legacy Project collects letters from all American veterans; I just happened to pick one from a soldier who died.
Where I come from, “Memorial Day” is not acknowledged. It’s viewed as nothing more than a commemoration of Yankee soldiers.
Michelle,
Danke Schoen!! from a living vet. 18th Artillery, Nike Missile Group, 1964-1966 Active Duty. Guys like me held back the Iron Curtain. :))
Because “Armistice Day” (Nov. 11) did not turn out to be the celebration of the end of the “War to End All Wars”, that celebration’s name was changed to “Veterans’ Day” in 1954.
But the first “Veterans’ Day” on November 11 was held in Birmingham, AL, in 1947
The further in time we get from wars, the more we see how so much of it, was a staged effort.
Gulf of Tonkien- a forgery. N. Vietnam never attacked our Navy. Rather it was a military excursion, launched for no apparent reason, perhaps it was to Empire build, but 58,000
loyal Americans died and for a war against a
country that offered the USA no threat.
World War -1- Wilson was tricked into this
conflict, which was no threat to the USA.
Gulf War – 2003. Zero threat to America.
Amateur forgeries used to invade a country.
And today, thousands of American families grieve their lost sons. There are 1.6 billion arabs who will defend their region from a occupation, and bush thinks this is the war on terror.
To the best of my ability,I will advise as many people as possible in life to avoid military service as America is fighting, not for our defense, but for the empire building of other nations.
For heaven’s sake, grow up, NeoCon.
We watched ‘Patton’, he is so eloquent.
I called my grandpa. He’s not eloquent anymore. He’s an old man who fought in a big war a long time ago. Then he raised a family and worked hard and built a life. Now, he sits by and watches his friends die and loses the sense of purpose that came from work and family.
Veteran’s Day always reminds me to spend time with the elderly, vets or not.
Call your grandparents!
This Veterans Day, November 11, 2006 let’s show our Military Members, and Veterans our support. In view of recent comments made about them they need our support more than ever. ARMAD will help show support “LIVE” over Amateur Radio from the WWII Victory Museum in Auburn, Indiana. Members of the public are welcome to come out and leave a message and show support.
Amateur Radio Thanks Veterans
On 11/11/06 the ARMAD group operated from the WWII Victory Museum in Auburn, Indiana. We operated HF, and Echolink, and made some very good contacts as we worked to promote our hobby.
We had several visitors at the stations, and several visiting Amateur Radio Operators came by to learn about ARMAD.
The highlight of the day was the ability to allow a lady from the audience to speak live to a group over Echolink via the Iraq Echolink node to leave a message for her son serving in Baghdad.
We also operated from the Golden Corral in Fort Wayne during Military Appreciation Monday on 11/13/06.
Our local operators braved the cold to allow our Veterans and Troops to receive messages of thanks and appreciation over the air.
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