Flag-draped Veterans Day reaches 95
Ninety-five years ago, President Woodrow Wilson encouraged people to mark Armistice Day by pausing briefly at 11 a.m. on November 11, the date on which World War I ended. The observance would evolve into a national holiday full of American flags.
“The reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service,” Wilson proclaimed, “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.”
A year later, citizens of Georgia marked the occasion with speeches and a poem about the flag that included these words: “That flag, with constellated stars,…like the rainbow in the storm, presages peace to man….Where’er it floats, on land or sea,…no stain its honor mars; and Freedom smiles, her fate secure, beneath its steadfast stars!”
In 1926, Congress officially recognized the annual observance when it passed a resolution to make national what more than half of the states were already doing. The Senate and House of Representatives asked the president to “issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and invit[e] the people…to observe the day…with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples.”
Armistice Day would not become a federal holiday until 1938 and would not be renamed Veterans Day until 1954. That was done so that those who served in World War II and Korea could be included in what had previously been a salute only to the heroes of the Great War.
That change was contained in a proclamation signed by President Dwight Eisenhower, who summoned all citizens to mark the occasion and “solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly.” He also ordered government officials “to arrange for the display of the flag of the United States on all public buildings on Veterans Day.”
Sixty years later, President Barack Obama continues the tradition of issuing a presidential proclamation each November. Last year, for instance, he urged “all Americans to recognize the valor and sacrifice of our veterans through appropriate public ceremonies and private prayers. I call upon Federal, State, and local officials to display the flag of the United States and to participate in patriotic activities in their communities.”