The United States began observing Armistice Day on the first anniversary of the truce signed with Germany in 1918 that formally ended hostilities in the first World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. A federal act on May 13, 1938 made November 11 a legal holiday, "a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day'."
An Emporia, Kansas shoe repair shop owner and World War II American War Dads member named Stephen Riod is credited with beginning a campaign in 1953 to expand Armistice Day to honor all veterans, not just those from World War I. On May 26, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a national bill into law that was six days later amended by Congress to change Armistice Day to Veterans Day.
I have only participated in Tallahassee's Veterans Day parades with a cat. First with Elliott, and later Dave the Cat, we rode on a bicycle and led parades in the late 1980s, and then on November 11, 2001, my granddaughter Alicia and Dave and I walked with Alicia's Brownie troop in the Veterans Day parade.
Freedom isn't free.
Thank you, to our veterans and all now serving, and families, for your service and sacrifice in defense of our country.
Happy Veterans Day!
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