Follow Us 
Related News
Current Poll
| Holiday a piece of Kansas history |
 |
 |
 |
| Opinion | |||
| Written by Aaron Cedeño | |||
| Tuesday, 10 November 2009 09:00 | |||
|
There are currently more than 20 million military veterans in the United States, and for each of them, today represents a great deal. Veterans Day is a chance to honor those who have served in the past or are serving today; to remember fallen brothers and sisters of the service; to reconnect with those who remain. And they shouldn’t be the only ones to remember. That responsibility falls on the public as well, and perhaps nowhere should that hold more true than it does in Kansas. Veterans Day is a holiday with roots dug deep into the soil of the Sunflower State. Prior to 1954, Nov. 11 was celebrated as Armistice Day, in honor of the anniversary of World War I’s conclusion. Though few may know it, the movement to transform Armistice Day into a holiday celebrating all military veterans began in 1953 in Emporia, where the first Veterans Day celebration took place. The idea of Alvin King, a local shoemaker, the event soon spread like wildfire. Ed Rees, the district’s congressman at the time, picked up on the idea of Veterans Day and took it to the nation’s capitol. Less than a year later, on May 26, 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower — a native Kansan, of course — officially signed the change into law. Thus, Veterans Day was born. With the United States currently in the midst of foreign wars, the military is a mainstay on the public radar — in coffee shop conversations, on the television news, in newspapers and on the Internet. Even though so much thought is given in this country to the military on a daily basis, people should take a few moments today to give thanks for those who have fought and continue to fight for all of the freedoms Americans enjoy.
Set as favorite
Bookmark
Email This
Hits: 868 Trackback(0)
Comments (0)
 Write comment
You must be logged in to post a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.
|
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
