{"id":7098,"date":"2026-11-11T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/?p=7098"},"modified":"2026-11-11T09:44:36","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T14:44:36","slug":"why-we-remember-a-veterans-day-retrospective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/2026\/11\/11\/why-we-remember-a-veterans-day-retrospective\/","title":{"rendered":"Why We Remember: A Veterans Day Retrospective"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
By Pete Salzman, Special to the Journal, note from the editor by Patrick Dobyns, Editor<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Did you know you can donate to Veteran students here at Pellissippi State Community College? As we highlight Veterans Day, we at Imaginary Gardens<\/em> invite you to join us in recognizing and honoring Veterans\u2019 valiant service by investing in their future through the Veteran Support Fund<\/a>. Just click the link below,  select your donation amount, and designate your contribution to the \u201cVeteran Support Fund.\u201d Imaginary Gardens<\/em> appreciates your generous support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you and have a blessed day honoring this nation’s current and retired soldiers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Emma G. Harrison, Editor-in-Chief, Imaginary Gardens<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Give to the Veteran Support Fund.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On November 11, the United States will observe Veterans Day, a federal holiday that honors military veterans. What many Americans don\u2019t know is that, before 1954, Veterans Day was known as Armistice Day. But a reader might ask, why Armistice<\/em> Day, and why November 11?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1918, the United States and its allies fought against the German Empire during the First World War, known at the time as \u201cThe Great War.\u201d Historians sometimes refer to the First World War as the first mechanized war because new technology \u2014 such as chemical weapons, machine guns, and aircraft \u2014 was used in the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The First World War saw the advent of Mechanized warfare | Library of Congress, 2016\/09\/02 (Wikimedia Commons)
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After four grueling years of trench warfare and more than 15 million deaths, the war ended on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. Seven months later, the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles in France, thereby officially ending the war. Despite the lag between the end of the conflict and the signed treaty, November 11 is regarded as the end of \u201cThe War to End All Wars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


In November of 1919, then President Woodrow Wilson declared in an address to the American people, \u201cthe reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country\u2019s service and the 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 nations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Armistice Day was observed yearly following Wilson\u2019s public speech, it wasn\u2019t until 1938 that the holiday was legalized by Congressional Act. Congress declared that November 11 would be a legal holiday to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and thereafter celebrated and known as \u201cArmistice Day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After World War II began in 1939, the enormity of World War I faded from the American consciousness. Once again, the world was fighting on multiple fronts in what historians would later understand was the deadliest conflict in history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States entered the conflict in 1941 following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in what the Department of Veterans Affairs now describes as the mobilization of the largest forces of the Army, Navy, Marines, and Airman in our nation\u2019s history. Albert Einstein would later observe, \u201cI know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was the first time since 1814 that a foreign attack had been conducted on American soil | Wikimedia Commons
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After World War II ended, Navy veteran Raymond Weeks began his life\u2019s work of transforming November 11 into a day that honors all veterans. By 1954, the word \u201cArmistice\u201d was replaced with \u201cVeterans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1968, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act was signed to create \u201ca three-day holiday for Federal employees.\u201d Veterans Day, along with Memorial Day, Columbus Day, and Washington\u2019s birthday, became mandatory federal holidays that were meant to be observed on Mondays. Americans, and particularly veterans, however, did not like Veterans Day being changed from November 11, as the day had special significance to those who served. As a result, President Gerald Ford signed a law in 1975 returning Veterans Day celebrations to their original November 11 observance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By now you\u2019re thinking, \u201cWhy an article on Veterans Day?\u201d Well, I would like everyone to know that Veterans Day recognizes and honors all veterans who are living and passed. Those who served during wartime and peacetime. Veterans Day is dedicated to the veterans who served honorably in the American military. I would like to ask from you, when you see a veteran, stop, shake his or her hand, and thank them for keeping this great country of ours free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Note from the Editor: <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to take a moment to go a little more in-depth with the First World War because, as Salzman stated, it is at the heart of the origins of Veterans Day. It is often overshadowed by the Second World War, and there are a few reasons for this \u2014 not the least of which is the almost cartoonishly evil nature of the Nazis and the Japanese Army. The Allied Cause was a moral crusade in the most literal ways. But the First World War was a different beast entirely. Americans never got the brunt of this conflict, though, joining in about a year before the conflict was ending. The German Army was already getting tired, its government on the verge of collapse, and everyone knew that things were coming to a close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We did not have our cities reduced to rubble, nor did we have our fields scarred by trenches, barbed wire, and landmines. We suffered no civilian casualties, because we were on the other side of the world, shielded by our isolation. Despite this, we did see the conflict\u2019s end. Our troops were paraded from trench to trench, symbols of prestige amongst the French and British ranks. They were named doughboys because of how \u201cfresh\u201d they were, but later our regiments would become some of the most decorated troops of the war. The 369 Infantry Regiment, otherwise known as the \u201cHarlem Hellfighters,\u201d were attached to the French Army and were so prized that they won the French Croix de Guerre<\/em>, the first Americans to ever do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Trench warfare in the First World War scoured the Earth, creating harsh environments and scars that are visible today | William Rider-Rider, 1917 (Wikimedia Commons)
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While Americans moved on from the First World War to honor all veterans, Europeans still recognize November 11 as Armistice Day. It\u2019s not that surprising. In the fields of France and Belgium, the lines where trenches were dug are still visible. Mines still dot No-Man\u2019s Land, still able to kill as efficiently now as in 1914. Great depressions pockmark the Earth where the first use of mechanized artillery pounded for hours, days, and weeks at a time into beleaguered troops. The men who served together weren\u2019t just comrades in arms, but often grew up together, were from the same towns, cities, and villages, which led to these places losing an entire generation. While the Second World War is undoubtedly the deadliest, the First was arguably the worst. While we honor all military veterans on this day, we should not forget what this day means \u2014 a chance for peace.
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