Veterans Day

With Gratitude

This little blog today was supposed to be 3 things you may not know about Veterans Day. Since I know those now, I’ll share them.

#1. According to the Defense Department Veterans Day has no apostrophe. They should know.

#2. Veterans Day was originally named Armistice Day commemorating the truce signed on November 11, 1918 to officially end “The War to End all Wars.” But of course it didn’t; so in 1954 the name was changed to Veterans Day to honor the service women and men from WWII and the Korean War.

#3. In 1971 the Uniform Holiday Bill moved Veterans Day to the 4th Monday in October. It was very confusing and no one really liked it so in 1975 President Gerald Ford signed a law retuning Veterans Day back to November 11th because historically that makes sense.

That was the blog. Then today, I went to the Veterans Day parade on Main Street, there I met Tom (pictured). Tom was bearing a “Go Army” button and told me he graduated from West Point in 1964. Each time the flag came by Tom saluted. When military personnel passed he took off his hat. Tom told me among other deployments, he served in Desert Storm. Another gentlemen of similar age walked by and Tom said, “All the way.” The long retired serviceman responded with the same phrase. (I googled it. “All the way” is the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division’s motto). They exchanged a smile. As if out of the blue, Tom turned to me, his eyes brimming, I don’t know why I’m so emotional today. I had tears in my eyes too. I couldn’t say exactly why I did either.