Veterans Day
Whereas it has long been our customs to commemorate November 11, the anniversary of the ending of World War I, by paying tribute to the heroes of that tragic struggle and by rededicating ourselves to the cause of peace; and Whereas in the intervening years, the United States has been involved in two other great military conflicts, which have added millions of veterans living and dead to the honor rolls of this Nation; and
Whereas the Congress passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926 (44 Stat. 1982), calling for the observance of November 11 with appropriate ceremonies, and later provided in an act approved May 13, 1938 (52 Stat. 351) , that the eleventh of November should be a legal holiday and should be known as Armistice Day; and
Whereas, in order to expand the significance of that commemoration and in order that a grateful Nation might pay appropriate homage to the veterans of all its wars who have contributed so much to the preservation of this Nation, the Congress, by an act approved June 1, 1954 (68 Stat. 168), changed the name of the holiday to Veterans Day:
Now, Therefore, I, Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States of America , do hereby call upon all of our citizens to observe Thursday, November 11, 1954 , as Veterans Day. On 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. (Wikipedia)
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The thwarted Nazi conquest of Waterbury
I've been watching Ken Burns' series on WW2 on public television. It's well done, switching between the European, Pacific, and home fronts. Several of the GI's followed in the series are from Waterbury. One told a story that sent chills up my spine.
During the invasion of Germany, one Waterbury GI met a German POW
who was a member of the German territorial administration corps. Upon learning that the GI was from Waterbury, the German remarked, "Yes, Waterbury in New Haven county," and he went on to describe details of the city. The German had been trained for the eventual Nazi occupation of the Waterbury area.....
There is other evidence that had the Germans and Japanese won the European and Pacific wars, they would have eventually gone after the American mainland, dividing the US at the Mississippi.
Stories like these directly connect the struggles of our vets, especially combat vets, to the freedoms we personally enjoy.
Yesterday at church, I had the privilege of thanking a WW2 vet who had fought in the mountains of northern Italy. Thank God for those who've been willing to defend, as Churchill put it, "the survival of Western civilization against the barbarity of the Dark Ages."
Happy Veterans Day.
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