“At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh
month,” in Winston Churchill’s immortal declaration, “silence fell across the
battlefields of Europe.” Thus, the
First World War came to an end.
Three years later, President Warren Harding dedicated the Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery and declared that on this day
“those who have offered their lives for the sake of freedom in this war to end
all wars should ever more be remembered.”
Still, it was not until 1938 that legislation was passed to “dedicate
November 11 to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated and
known as Armistice Day.” Then in
1954, after having been through both World War II and the Korean War, Congress
amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word “Armistice” and inserting the
word “Veterans.” With the approval of this legislation on June 1, 1954,
November 11 became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.
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