(Veterans Day 2005, Veterans' color guard)
(Veterans Day 2005, PHS Junior ROTC marches to ceremonies)VETERANS DAY will be observed this morning at 10 AM at the War Memorial flagpole at East 7th Street and Watchung Avenue.
Plainfield's veterans groups will conduct the annual ceremony, which includes a color guard, remarks by veterans and dignitaries and the laying of a wreath at the Memorial by the mayor.
ARMISTICE DAY became the international observation of the cessation of World War I hostilities at 11 AM on the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918 -- after protracted and complicated negotiations.
Over the years, large parades and well-attended civic ceremonies were held in countless towns and cities across the country. The President led national ceremonies at Arlington National Ceremony. An example is President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1941 Armistice Day address, on the eve of World War II.
(A 1920s Armistice Day Parade in Rochester, NY)
(Carrying a large American flag, Rochester, NY)Armistice Day was traditionally observed throughout the community by the complete cessation of activity for two minutes of silent observation at 11 AM -- including all those who were unable to attend the ceremonies. In many places that tradition continues, though not, sadly, in Plainfield.
In 1954, following a countrywide grassroots campaign, Congress designated the day as VETERANS DAY, making it an official federal holiday.
As a result, the day has come to focus more on honoring the service and contributions of VETERANS, as distinct from its original purpose as a DAY OF REMEMBRANCE for those who died in World War I. (In Canada and other British Commonwealth countries, the day is still known as Remembrance Day.)
MEMORIAL DAY, which had its origins in remembering the Civil War dead, came to be the focus of remembrance of all who had died in wars past.
-- Dan Damon
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