What is Veterans Day? According to the Encyclopedia Americana it was “formerly Armistice Day, claimed by the President of the United States and the govenors of various states, in honor of all branches of the U.S. armed services … to recall their sacrifices in war and contributions to peace.”

November 11 was first proclaimd Armistice Day in 1919. This was to commemorate the signing of an armistice on November 11, 1918, which brought World War I to an end. Armistice Day was observed through 1953.

On June 1, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an act of congress “to honor verterans on the eleventh day of November of each year … a day dedicated to peace.”

In 1968, legislation was passed to make Veterans Day a legal Federal holiday. It was to be effective (starting) in 1971, and the holiday on the fourth Monday of October. Veterans Day was celebrated this way until 1978, when it went back to being on the eleventh of November.

To me, Veterans Day is a day to honor all the people who served in the military. It does not matter whether they served in peacetime or in time of war, because veterans have been willing to protect our freedoms by giving their lives if necessary. Many soldiers have given their lives, others have come back disabled, and some still are listed as missing in action.

The first code of the “Code of Conduct” best illustrates this feeling. It goes: “I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in its defense.” The people who served may or may not have supported what the government was doing at the time, but they served anyway. Everyone in this country should be proud of these people, and should honor them on their day. Not even the JLS can argue this point.

Dennis Biesma

sophomore, Kishwaukee College

veteran, U.S. army