EDITORIAL
The Rockdale ISD’s wonderful observance of Veterans Day is set for 10 a.m. Thursday in the high school gym.
Sunday is the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. Those two anniversaries are closely related.
If you go down this page to the “Looking Back” column, you can read about our town’s reaction to the end of the “War to End Wars.”
It’s heartening—and frankly a little surprising considering the era—that one of the three speakers at the victory celebration was B. Y. Aycock, principal of the local African-American school and the namesake of the later Aycock school.
Well, good for 1918 Rockdale!
One year later, Nov. 11, 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proposed commemorating Nov. 11 as “Armistice Day,” as a date to honor the sacrifices of American soldiers in that war.
On June 4, 1926, Congress passed a resolution asking for “appropriate ceremonies” to be held on that day.
Armistice Day was made a legal holiday on May 13, 1938.
In Wilson’s 1919 declaration he had called the end of the war a chance to remake the world. It was certainly remade. World War II followed.
In 1945, World War I veteran Raymond Weeks proposed Armistice Day be expanded to include honoring veterans of all wars, not solely World War I. He floated the idea to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who supported it.
In 1954, Congress passed a bill establishing the “new” Veterans Day on the same day as Armistice Day, but expanding it to include all American veterans. It was signed, enthusiastically, by Eisenhower who had, of course, become president.
Veterans Day has been observed every year since with one seven-year glitch.
In 1971, as part of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, Veterans Day was moved to the third Monday in October.
That simply didn’t sit well with most people, veterans and non-veterans alike. There’s a deep attachment to a date and time, the First World War ending on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. An alternating date in a completely different month just didn’t seem, well, right.
So in 1978 Veterans Day was moved back to Nov 11 and it has stayed there ever since.
If you’ve never attended a Veterans Day observance at the school—all four campuses are involved—you owe it to yourself to come to this one.
It’s impressive. Veterans are seated in a place of honor, students offer songs, essays and other tributes. The Big Blue Band peforms the five service anthems and veterans from each branch of the armed forces stand—if able—when their song is played.
There are smiles, memories, stories and, tears. And that’s okay.—M.B.
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