By Katie Mettler, November 11, 2017<\/p>\n
On Nov. 11, we celebrate Veterans Day with parades and Old Glory T-shirts, with salutes to those who served and prayers for those who fell.<\/p>\n
But the version of Veterans Day we know now wasn\u2019t always so. It wasn\u2019t always a holiday, it wasn\u2019t always on Nov. 11 and, at first, it wasn\u2019t even called Veterans Day. The original intent, established in the wake of World War I, was to celebrate world peace. Then the wars never ended, so Veterans Day changed.<\/p>\n
[A lost battalion. A war hero. And a heartbreaking suicide.<\/a>] <\/i><\/p>\n Let\u2019s start from the beginning.<\/p>\n Nov. 11, 1918<\/strong><\/p>\n At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, fighting between the Allied Forces and Germany stopped, putting an end to the bloodshed of World War I per the terms of an armistice agreement signed in France that same day.<\/p>\n But World War I <\/a>\u2014 the \u201cWar to end all wars\u201d \u2014 did not officially end until seven months later.<\/p>\n Nov. 11, 1919<\/strong><\/p>\n On the one-year anniversary of the armistice agreement, President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation commemorating Nov. 11 as Armistice Day. The celebrations were to include parades, public meetings and a two-minute suspension of business at 11 a.m.<\/p>\n The proclamation read: \u201c\u2026 Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country\u2019s 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 \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n June 4, 1926<\/strong><\/p>\n Congress passed a resolution urging state governors to observe Armistice Day with \u201cthanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through goodwill and mutual understanding between nations.\u201d<\/p>\n At the time, 27 states had already made Nov. 11 a legal holiday.<\/p>\n May 13, 1938<\/strong><\/p>\n More than a decade later, Congress made Armistice Day an official holiday dedicated to world peace.<\/p>\n June 1, 1954<\/strong><\/p>\n World War I was not the war to ends all wars, and lawmakers believed that veterans from World War II and the Korean War also deserved their own day of remembrance. So President Eisenhower signed a bill changing the name of Armistice Day to the more inclusive Veterans Day, a holiday to thank all who had served the United States of America.<\/p>\n [D-Day\u2019s heavy toll on Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of America\u2019s greatest generals<\/a>]<\/i><\/p>\n Oct. 12, 1954<\/strong><\/p>\n Eisenhower published a proclamation in the Federal Register, instructing citizens to recognize Veterans Day on Nov. 11.<\/p>\n He wrote: \u201cOn that day, let us solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly, on the seas, in the air, and on foreign shores, to preserve our heritage of freedom, and let us reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain.\u201d<\/p>\n June 28, 1968<\/strong><\/p>\n Fifty years after the armistice agreement, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968, which moved Veterans Day from its original Nov. 11 date to the fourth Monday in October. The act also declared that Memorial Day, Columbus Day and Washington\u2019s Birthday would be observed on Mondays throughout the year.<\/p>\n