A war with an end

Remember

• soldiers who have served and fallen, especially those who served in World War One.
• Veterans Day began as a peace celebration on November 11, 1918, with the end of the pitiless conflict known as World War One.
• signing of a multinational peace agreement, or Armistice, triggered massive spontaneous jubilees in many places worldwide.  In Europe, the States, Canada, even New Zealand and Australia, vast crowds gathered in the ceremonial centers of cities to cheer the end of a struggle that had cost the warring nations many millions of lives.
• Once US had entered the war: Over a million men were mobilized >  By the end of the war, 18 months later, American forces had suffered some 320,000 casualties, the majority being wounded, with tens of thousands being lost to death and disease.
• Being at war demanded something from all society, taxing the economy to its limits and requiring sacrifice on the part of civilians, as the signs around the Philadelphia square suggest.

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Related articles

• US Pays Annual Tribute to Military Veterans (voanews.com)
  A free concert in Washington broadcast around the world capped off the Veterans Day celebration in the United States.

  Hundreds of thousands came out for the first-ever Concert for Valor, featuring such superstars as Bruce Springsteen, Rihanna, Carrie Underwood and Eminem.

  The concert was aimed at raising awareness of the problems American servicemen and servicewomen face when they return home and leave the military.

  One disabled Vietnam War veteran said the show marked the first time he’d ever felt honored for his service.

  The show climaxed a day of events across the country saluting U.S. veterans of all wars.

• A Huge Collection Of Photographs From World War One (youviewed.com)
  Canadian machine gunners dig themselves in, in shell holes on Vimy Ridge.
  See all 89 pictures at American Heroes
• In Flanders Fields and Other Poems of Remembrance Day (teleread.com)
  The poppy has become a symbol of remembrance in Canada, and most schoolchildren have the poem memorized by the time they finish primary school.

  I was interested to note that when I spent the year in New Zealand—a fellow Commonwealth country—many moons ago for graduate school, they had a different poem for their Remembrance Day services. “For the Fallen’ by Laurence Binyon was their standard.

• Is There a Better Way To Observe Veterans Day? (defenseone.com)
  This year’s Veterans Day is particularly significant, accompanying not just the centenary of World War I, but also the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. It is also the first U.S. military holiday since the Obama administration launched a new offensive, however limited, against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Such circumstances would seem to call for contemplation of the costs and consequences of conflict. And yet, as on every Veterans Day, many Americans will do little or nothing to commemorate the occasion.
• Is There a Better Way to Observe Veterans Day? (theatlantic.com)
  In the United Kingdom and Canada, people customarily wear a red poppy—a nod to the poppies that dotted the battlefields of the First World War—on their jacket lapel or blouse on Armistice Day in tribute to those who have died in military service. In a nationwide survey of adults by Viewsbank, a U.K. consumer-research firm, more than 80 percent of respondents said that they planned to wear the poppy this year. In Canada, more than half of the population usually wears the poppy, according to the Royal Canadian Legion. The U.K. and Canada also observe a two-minute moment of silence at 11 a.m. on November 11 (as with Veterans Day in the U.S., the British and Canadian holidays mark the World War I armistice of November 11, 1918)—a practice that workplaces and schools follow across both countries. In Russia, many people observe a minute of silence on May 9 (Russia’s Victory Day, marking the end of the Second World War in Europe) as it is broadcast on television and radio stations, according to Natalia Moroz of the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Washington, D.C. Israelis observe moments of silence on Yom HaShoah (Holocaust remembrance day) and Yom Hazikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day), with drivers going so far as to pull over to the side of the road and stand at attention as sirens sound across the country.
• Veterans Day is one confusing holiday (stripes.com)
  yes, it is a holiday — unlike some of those quasi-holiday observances we sometimes confuse with the real deal, such as Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day and Halloween. Veterans Day is a federal holiday. However, it is not a holiday that everybody takes.
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  Now, what is the correct way to write this holiday? Is it

  A. Veteran’s Day
  B. Veterans’ Day
  C. Veterans Day

  The correct answer is C. Veterans Day. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs explains that if the word were to have an apostrophe it would imply the day belongs to a single veteran (Veteran’s) or all veterans (Veterans’). But the holiday is not possessed by anybody. It is a holiday to honor veterans — therefore it is plural (Veterans).

• Armistice Day (phylor.wordpress.com)
  Before WWII, most nations had renamed the day. In 1931, the United States made November 11th All Veterans Day, then shortened to Veterans Day.

  It is a day to remember veterans; those who have served and continue to serve their country. At 11:00 am, many nations observe a minute or two of silence in honour.
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  In Flanders Fields, 1915 In “remembrance”+
  

  shout out: veteran’s petreach In “passing it along”
  

  memorial day: let’s never forget In “musings”

• Meaning of Veterans Day (onenewspage.us)
  The United States Congress officially recognized the end of World War i when it passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926, with these words: veteran’s give up a 3 lot to serve our country — how do they feel about our celebration of veteran’s day? how has america’s treatment of veteran’s changed over the YEARS?Veterans have been treated very differently depending on the way in which they fought.For example — after the Vietnam War, veterans were treated very badly, since public opinion of the war was so low.

American Inquiry

On this day, many nations pause to remember their war dead, the soldiers who have served and fallen, especially those who served in World War One.

What the US celebrates as Veterans Day began as a peace celebration on November 11, 1918, with the end of the pitiless conflict known as World War One.  The announcement that the war had ended with the signing of a multinational peace agreement, or Armistice, triggered massive spontaneous jubilees in many places worldwide.  In Europe, the States, Canada, even New Zealand and Australia, vast crowds gathered in the ceremonial centers of cities to cheer the end of a struggle that had cost the warring nations many millions of lives.

This marvelous photograph shows Philadelphians celebrating the word of peace that day.  Horrible as the war was, the photograph conveys a feeling of pride, even as it commemorates a sort of war unfamiliar to…

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