Veterans Day 2015

today is

11 November 2015;

the day that the United States of America

recognizes as a Federal Holiday,

otherwise known as

Veterans Day.

It coincides with other holidays such as Armistice Day

or Remembrance Day,

which are celebrated in other parts of the world and also mark the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice

that ended World War I.

*Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918

with the German signing of the Armistice.

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed

Armistice Day for November 11, 1919.

In proclaiming the holiday, he said;

"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 nations."

The United States Congress passed

a concurrent resolution seven years later on June 4, 1926, requesting that President Calvin Coolidge issue

another proclamation to observe November 11

with appropriate ceremonies.

A Congressional Act

(52 Stat. 351; 5 U.S. Code, Sec. 87a)

approved May 13, 1938,

made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday:

"a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day'."

In 1945,

WWII veteran Raymond Weeks

from Birmingham, Alabama,

had the idea to expand Armistice Day

to celebrate all veterans,

not just those who died in World War I.

Weeks led a delegation to Gen. Dwight Eisenhower,

who supported the idea of National Veterans Day.

Weeks led the first national celebration in 1947

in Alabama and annually until his death in 1985.

President Reagan honored Weeks at the White House

with the Presidential Citizenship Medal in 1982

as the driving force for the national holiday.

Elizabeth Dole,

who prepared the briefing for President Reagan, determined Weeks as the "Father of Veterans Day."

U.S. Representative Ed Rees from Emporia, Kansas, presented a bill establishing the holiday through Congress.

President Dwight Eisenhower,

also from Kansas,

signed the bill into law on May 26, 1954.

Congress amended this act on June 1, 1954,

replacing "Armistice" with "Veterans,"

and it has been known as Veterans Day since.

The National Veterans Award,

created in 1954,

also started in Birmingham.

Congressman Rees of Kansas was honored

in Alabama as the first recipient of the award for

his support offering legislation to make

Veterans Day a federal holiday,

which marked nine years of effort by Raymond Weeks.

Weeks conceived the idea in 1945,

petitioned Gen. Eisenhower in 1946,

and led the first Veterans Day celebration in 1947

(keeping the official name Armistice Day

until Veterans Day was legal in 1954).

Although originally scheduled for celebration

on November 11 of every year,

starting in 1971 in accordance with

the Uniform Monday Holiday Act,

Veterans Day was moved to the fourth Monday of October.

In 1978,

it was moved back to its original celebration

on November 11.

*the above info was 'borrowed' from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia...

**men from our U.S. Armed Forces

taking a much needed break from their daily duties...

Parody of "Call Me Maybe"...

Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders & U.S. Armed Forces...

God Bless all our Troops serving abroad and may they All

return home safely to their loved ones very soon...

GAHOLLYWOODKISS.com