At eleven o'clock on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the year 1918, a devastating war, in involving most of the great nations of the world, came to an end. There was unbridled rejoicing all over the world. Spontaneous parades formed in the streets; there was singing, dancing and shouts of joy. After four years of bitter struggle the fighting had stopped. Lights came on in long darkened places, and it was the common hope that this war had made the world "safe for democracy."
The holiday which originally commemorated the signing of the 1918 Armistice now honors the memory of all men who have ever fought in defense of their country. But the two minutes of silence at 11:00 A.M. is still part of the traditional observance of the day.
Two years after the Armistice, the body of an unidentified French soldier was taken to Paris from his temporary resting place and buries in the Arc de Triomphe as a symbol of his country's gratitude to all fallen fighting men. Britain buried one of its unknowns in Westminsiter Abbey along with kings, queens, knows in Westminster Abbey along with kings, queens, and other national heroes. And on November 11, 1921, and American unknown soldier was placed in a classic marble tomb in Arlington National Cemetery, facing the nation's capital.
Few national heroes have gone to their final rest with such honors. President Warren G. Harding and two ex-Presidents, William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson, led the funeral cortege. In death, the unknown soldier was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor (the nation's highest military recognition), and the Distinguished Service Cross, as well as the highest military decorations of seven other countries, The honors were not for one but for all who had died that others might live.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has become the official symbol of Americans who have lost their lives fighting in 20th-century wars. Each year thousands of visitors climb the slight rise in Arlington National Cemetery to stand before the simple yet impressive monument and silently contemplate. From a distance, the snowy white tomb and its broad marble plaza blend with the adjoining Memorial Amphitheater into a stately montage. At closer view its majestic details emerge: on one side three figures in has relief--Peace holding a dove in her left hand, Victory extending a palm branch, and Valor clasping a sword; on the other the simple inscription: HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY AN AMERICAN SOLDIER KNOWN BUT TO GOD. And to add living dignity to the memory of the dead, a lone sentinel, with fixed bayonet and disciplined step, maintains a constant vigil.
At the foot of the Tomb there is the simple reminder--1917-1918. Since then, two other unknowns have been added to the Tomb, one marked 1941-1934, and the other 1950-1953.When the first unknown soldier was selected in 1921, Americans felt that peace had been assured; that such a ceremony would not be repeated. It was done with drama and finality. One unidentified American from each of four United States military cemeteries in France was exhumed and, in flag-draped coffins, conveyed by honor guard to Chalonsur-Marne, in the heart of the former battlefields. There a typical "Doughboy," Sgt. Edward F. Younger, was asked to make the final choice. While a French band played a hymn, Sgt. Younger slowly circled the coffins, then moved forward and laid a spray of white roses on one of the caskets. He stepped back, saluted and walked from the room. Despite the cherished belief that memory of past sacrifices would preclude the repetition of this ritual, history has ordained that two more unknowns take their places at Arlington National Cemetery. They were selected with equal care and military rigor. Early in May of 1958, on the deck of the cruiser Canberra, in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, Navy Hospitalman William R. Charette, a winner of the Medal of Honor, chose between two caskets, one from the transatlantic theater of war and one from the transpacific phase. At the National Memorial Cemetery in Honolulu, Hawaii, Master Sgt. Ned Lyle, holder of the Distinguished Service Cross for Heroic action in Korea, chose one of the unidentified dead of that conflict. Then on Memorial Day President Eisenhower placed a black pillow bearing a Congressional Medal of Honor on each of the two caskets, and the new unknowns were laid to rest beside the first one.
These three are not the only unknown soldiers who lie in Arlington Cemetery. There are unknowns from every war the United States has fought in--including 2,111 Union and Confederate soldiers gathered from Civil War battlefields. But the three in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier affirm with patriotic fervor that America's war dead--known and unknown--are not forgotten.
In the years preceding World War II, Armistice Day was set aside by presidential proclamation, to be observed in appropriate ceremonies "expressive of our gratitude for peace and our desire for the continuance of friendly relations with all other peoples." Then in 1938, on the twentieth anniversary of the Armistice, November 11 was made a legal holiday by Act of Congress, which likewise stressed the belief that "peace can be attained only by non-aggression and can be made enduring only by respect for the rights of others and goodwill among the nations of the world."
In Emporia, Kansas, on November 11, 1953, instead of an Armistice Day program, there was a Veteran's Day Observance. To Ed Rees, congressman from that district, this shift in emphasis indicated the need for an official change in name. Consequently he introduced a bill which was passed by the Congress, and on May 24, 1954, the name was changed to Veterans' Day. In his proclamation that year, President Eisenhower urged rededication "to the task of promoting an enduring peace."
The quest for peace has taken many forms. On that first Veterans' Day, some 50,000 recent immigrants became citizens of the United States in mass-naturalization ceremonies. More than 7,000 new citizens from 68 countries took the oath of allegiance in the Hollywood Bowl at Los Angeles. Another 8,000 were sworn in at the Polo Grounds in New York; and 80 others took part in a dramatic ceremony aboard the USS Missouri in Bremerton, Washington.
Before World War II it was
customary for each community to
hold veterans' parades and public ceremonies, but of late
there has been a reaction against military parades as tending
to glorify war. Most people spend the day quietly at home.
Those families who have lost sons or daughters in war will
probably attend memorial services and turn their thoughts to
the avoidance of future wars. In this respect Veterans' Day
and Memorial Day have come to be regarded with much the same
sentiments by the American people. Although the events that
inspired them were quite different, both holidays now provoke
condemnation of the waste of war and thoughtful consideration
of ways to attain peace. In his 1966 Veterans' Day
proclamation, President Johnson stressed the wish of the
American people for a peaceful world and requested that all
Americans pause at eleven o'clock of that day to united in
a prayer for permanent peace.