The 11th Day of the 11th Month

[Jedieb]

http://www1.va.gov/vetsday/images/vet_day_2004_7x9_150dpi.jpg

"Veterans' Day (formerly Armistice Day)
November 11, is the anniversary of the Armistice which was signed in the Forest of Compiegne by the Allies and the Germans in 1918, ending World War I, after four years of conflict.
At 5 A.M. on Monday, November 11, 1918 the Germans signed the Armistice, an order was issued for all firing to cease; so the hostilities of the First World War ended. This day began with the laying down of arms, blowing of whistles, impromptu parades, closing of places of business. All over the globe there were many demonstrations; no doubt the world has never before witnessed such rejoicing.
In November of 1919, President Woodrow Wilson issued his Armistice Day proclamation. The last paragraph set the tone for future observances:
To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's 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 nation.

In 1927 Congress issued a resolution requesting President Calvin Coolidge to issue a proclamation calling upon officials to display the Flag of the United States on all government buildings on November 11, and inviting the people to observe the day in schools and churches...But it was not until 1938 that Congress passed a bill that each November 11 "shall be dedicated to the cause of world peace and ...hereafter celebrated and known as Armistice Day."
That same year President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill making the day a legal holiday in the District of Columbia. For sixteen years the United States formally observed Armistice Day, with impressive ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where the Chief Executive or his representative placed a wreath. In many other communities, the American Legion was in charge of the observance, which included parades and religious services. At 11 A.M. all traffic stopped, in tribute to the dead, then volleys were fired and taps sounded.
After World War II, there were many new veterans who had little or no association with World War I. The word, "armistice," means simply a truce; therefore as years passed, the significance of the name of this holiday changed. Leaders of Veterans' groups decided to try to correct this and make November 11 the time to honor all who had fought in various American wars, not just in World War I.
In Emporia, Kansas, on November 11, 1953, instead of an Armistice Day program, there was a Veterans' Day observance. Ed Rees, of Emporia, was so impressed that he introduced a bill into the House to change the name to Veterans' Day. After this passed, Mr. Rees wrote to all state governors and asked for their approval and cooperation in observing the changed holiday. The name was changed to Veterans' Day by Act of Congress on May 24, 1954. In October of that year, President Eisenhower called on all citizens to observe the day by remembering the sacrifices of all those who fought so gallantly, and through rededication to the task of promoting an enduring peace. The President referred to the change of name to Veterans' Day in honor of the servicemen of all America's wars. "

[Dutchy]

...is 1 of the 12 days a year that the unlogical US date matches the logical Dutch one. :p

[Lilaena De'Ville]

THANK YOU TO ALL VETERANS.

Do we have any that post here?

[Telan Desaria]

Yes. But my time was spent in service to another nation.



Let us remember as well Sedantag or Sedan Day, the day to remember those who served Germany. And Bastille day, the observance of dead Frenchman. And St. Petersday, the rememberence of fallen Russian soldiers.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Are those today too?

[CMJ]

Originally posted by Lilaena De'Ville
THANK YOU TO ALL VETERANS.

Do we have any that post here?

You do know Eb is a vet don't you?

[darth_mcbain]

Originally posted by CMJ
You do know Eb is a vet don't you?

I don't think I ever realized that. Thank you, EB, and all vets, for your service. America wouldn't be America without all of the men and women defending and protecting it.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Originally posted by CMJ
You do know Eb is a vet don't you?
I doubt I would have asked if I had known. :rolleyes

:) well, thanks Eb.

[CMJ]

I didn't mean to offend LD, but Jedieb has made mention of his time in the military several times in the past. He even expressed thoughts of rejoining after 9/11 if I recall. I thought it was fairly well known.

I can see by McBain's reaction it was not.

[Telan Desaria]

*I shall pat myselfon the back. I should have I served for you guys - - - you might have cared.



CMJ - -I do so love that avatar

[Dae Jinn]

Originally posted by Lilaena De'Ville
THANK YOU TO ALL VETERANS.



Was going to post this in it's own thread, but since this one was here...

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Toronto/Thane_Burnett/2004/11/11/709114.html

What started as a decoration, tacked on an Ontario university dorm wall, had become something more important -- a symbol of personal sacrifice and national honour -- in the middle of a small-town, Quebec cemetery.

Hong Kong prisoner of war Ed Campbelton yesterday straightened the corners of the large flag over his uncle's broad headstone. The clean fabric flowed against the aging face values -- Walter Parkes 1908-1984. The brief inscription did not capture the battles Walter waged for Canada as a younger man, or those years he sacrificed for all Canadians.

The flag however -- placed by Ed, his friend, fellow PoW and nephew -- did it well.

Ed grinned as he rose from one knee -- using his kin's decorated marker for balance.

"This is his flag ... his country," Ed said, as he made his way down a slight grade of the cemetery hill, which tumbles into nearby St. Francis River. "People forget how precious Canada is sometimes."

But Walter -- with whom Ed spent more than three years beside in a Japanese-run PoW camp -- never did forget.

Ed imagined the one-time sergeant major would use interesting language to describe the sucker punch by rookie Bloc Quebecois MP, Andre Bellavance. None of the words Ed dared repeat in the graveyard.

Last week, Bellavance shocked vets from coast to coast by denying the local Canadian legion, here in Richmond, Quebec, a Canadian flag to mark today's Remembrance Day.

Ed -- just as Walter did -- belongs to that legion.

"I thought, 'Well, it's just our problem,'" said Richmond Legion vice-president, John Hill, who made the original failed request to Bellavance.

"We never expected it to go as far as it did."

Flags, and offers of more flags, poured into this quiet community, south of Drummondville, from politicians and outraged Canadians in B.C. and right across to Newfoundland.

The flags came from the Prime Minister, down from the pole on Parliament Hill, and from the wall of first year Wilfrid Laurier University student, Pete Boccia. He, and other Toronto Sun readers -- including a widow of a military photographer, the proud son of a veteran and the son-in-law of a French-Canadian who helped liberate Holland -- sent mail bags filled with flags to me, after my column last Saturday called on Canadians to paint Richmond red and white.

"My parents have always taught me to respect veterans (and the) war dead," Pete, a corporal in the Canadian Army Reserve, explained in a letter, attached to his Maple Leaf.

"So enclosed is a Canadian flag that was hanging proudly in my dorm room. I figured it would do a lot better in ... Quebec."

And it did. In fact, among a full trunkload, it was the flag that 86-year-old Royal Rifles' vet Ed yesterday pulled out to drape on Walter's St. Anne's Cemetery gravestone.

The two heroes were among 2,000 Canadians sent to Hong Kong in 1941 to fight the Japanese. Almost 600 died in the battle or through starvation and notorious abuse as prisoners -- a fate both men thought for sure they'd share.

Ed and his uncle Walter worked 16-hour days in a Japanese coal mine. At the start of the war, Ed weighed 160-pounds. When he was freed, he was down to 67.

During captivity, his uncle was once taken into a dungeon, to be punished with other captured soldiers. Prodded with sharpened bamboo, they were made to stand at attention on one spot -- never moving. Walter, as other vets recall with awe, lasted a remarkable 31-hours.

Both men returned to simple lives here -- Ed as a delivery man and Walter in the asbestos mines. At this time of year, with leaves falling, they'd go off and hunt deer together.

Unless they got into a bottle, they wouldn't talk about their years in captivity. Years of war but not remembrance.

"We just both wanted to forget," Ed explained.

The irony is that now the rest of us -- largely younger men and women answering the challenge of an ignorant, petty politician -- have been forced to consider the sacrifices of men like Ed and Walter, and those who never came home.

Which -- as a nearby table was stacked with the flags driven through the night from Toronto -- is another victory for the old soldiers.

"We were staying quiet in our little corner," said branch president, Andre Berger. "The attention wasn't intentional.

"But it's reminded people, across Canada, what (today) is about." Not that men like Ed needed reminding.

Before night came, to preserve the dignity of the symbol, the flag was taken from Walter's grave, without it touching the ground, and carefully folded away by legion official Peter Hill. A smaller flag will replace it today.

As for the other flags from Toronto, they will be a ready stock for the branch.

Besides, noted one member, suddenly every local building wants to fly one again.
^ Don't know if this made it's way to the States, but it was big news in Canada. A Bloc PM (Quebec Seperatist) wouldn't donate flags to the veterans, because he didn't think he should have have to. I think it's great that people all over the country contributed flags to the vets in Quebec.

[Dan the Man]

Does anybody in the world like Quebec? I've never in my life encountered a more thoroughly unpleasant group of people as French-Canadian separatists :|

[Dae Jinn]

I like some people *from* Quebec, but I thought that was completely insane. Way to alienate everyone, Mr PM. :|

[Telan Desaria]

That is intolerable. It is one thing to be a man of belief against the spending of funds for the military it is entirely another to deride those who have fallen so that he may blithely hold such beliefs. I do detest the French with all my heart but my salute will be as crisp at the monument at Verdun as it would be at Metz or Stalingrad. Simply because I know that those men died without cause, concern, complaint, or querry - - they died for their country, they died for a cause, something larger than themselves. You may hate something, but never disrespect those who have died trying to defend - -or better - -something else.


I had the privilge of walking amongst the headstones on the beaches of Normadie once, and it was a truly moving experience. Though I may detest the American governmental system and the capitalistic extragavance espoused by that country, I will always to my dying day salute the memorial to a man who has fallen in the preservation defense or betterment of his home. Right or wrong - - my family fought for Germany during the war because it was our home, not because we were Nazis. The same goes for those of all nations, all creeds, all armies.

In Germany, we had a saying. Gott mit uns

God is with us. It is not so. On days such as this, it reads more correctly

Gott mit die Gefaellne ist

God is with the Fallen

[Hart]

Well, no one should have to be forced to display signs of patriotism or unity for a cause in which they disagree fundamentally with it. And some people don't necessarily believe dying for your country automatically qualifies that person as good and worthy of "God's grace." Even horrible people can choose to suffer for a cause. It's my opinion that you should be judged by how you live, not how you die. Many soldiers were fine people. And many were not. I can see why a pacifist wouldn't be crazy about glorifying soldiers to the extent of worship. And if someone in the US doesn't want to wave an American flag, that's his perogative. I, personally, choose to give a certain amount of deference to the contributions of all veterans (even from enemy forces), and I certainly try not to insult the dead, but others can disagree. Others can disagree with the cause, and thus disagree with dying for it. A person can argue that dying without "cause, concern, complaint, or querry" is not cause for celebration. Voicing opinions should never be wrong.

Now that I got that out of the way, I hope everyone took some time to recognize the contributions of all people who fought for your country (as well as every country) yesterday. It really is a shame that so many of the world's young men with some of the most potential for bettering the world had to fall so early in life.

[Diego Van Derveld]

That's all well and good, but when you're a politician in office, these things change quite significantly.

[JMK]

Originally posted by Dae Jinn
I like some people *from* Quebec, but I thought that was completely insane. Way to alienate everyone, Mr PM. :|

Heh, hopefully I'm one of them!


]Originally posted by Dan the Man Does anybody in the world like Quebec? I've never in my life encountered a more thoroughly unpleasant group of people as French-Canadian separatists

The key word is separatists. I can't stand any of them, for any span of time. Treacherous pigs.

[Dae Jinn]

You're the only person I really know from Quebec (on Fans, anyway), JMK :hug Of course I like you!

[CMJ]

Originally posted by Telan Desaria
CMJ - -I do so love that avatar

Thanks...I've had it for about 3 years now. :) I can hardly even remember what my previous avatar was.

[Telan Desaria]

You should be an Imperial with a picture like that...


*(((Shamelessly Recruits)))*

[CMJ]

I haven't roleplayed in 5 or so years man...so don't expect anything. :p

[Telan Desaria]

Pity - you should get back into it. I am in need of good rpers.