What is Veteran’s Day?
Veteran’s Day has been a national holiday in the United States since 1968. And since 1978 the holiday has been set with November 11 as the date. Prior to 1968 …
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What is Veteran’s Day?
Veteran’s Day has been a national holiday in the United States since 1968. And since 1978 the holiday has been set with November 11 as the date. Prior to 1968 Veteran’s Day was a holiday with various names, dates and practices in various states. The concept dates back to 1918 and the end of World War I. It was called Armistice Day for many years. There still are “old timers” like me around who remember the day as Armistice Day.
Memorial Day (a May holiday on the calendar) is another national holiday that has similarities to Veteran’s Day. Memorial Day is technically a holiday to remember men and women veterans who have passed away, while Veteran’s Day remembers all who served.
November 11 is the date used to commemorate the federal holiday known as Veteran’s Day. The 11th hour of the 11th day of 1918 saw the signing of an armistice to end “The Great War.” A war in Europe with Germany that included many thousands of U.S. troops, as well as many other nations. Some for and some against. War is a terrible thing for all sides and all those impacted.
Raymond Casmer Cegielnik is a veteran that I chose to remember for Veteran’s Day 2024. Raymond was born in the Thorp, Wisconsin area in 1925. He attended and graduated from Withee High School in 1943. Classmate of Dorothy Klabon, Bill Gautsche, Bill Nourse, and others that I knew. Raymond enlisted in the U.S. Army and trained with the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment. His World War II military unit was sent to the Philippines to fight the Japanese. Raymond died on March 13, 1945, during a combat mission in Luzon, Philippines as part of General Douglas McArthur’s campaign to re-take the Philippines from the Japanese. Raymond’s mother Bernice worked for many years at Master Package in Owen, Wisconsin. She died in 1989 and is buried at Riverside Cemetery, rural Withee, Wisconsin.
I don’t know if this is still a thing, but years ago during my elementary school days at Poppe and Longwood rural schools, we stood in unison in class at 11 a.m. on November 11 each year and faced the east for two minutes. The first minute to give thanks for those veteran’s returning home alive, and the second minute to remember those veterans who fell in combat in death.
