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Published November 11, 2009, 12:00 AM

Editorial: A day to honor, remember, thank

Ninety years ago today - Nov. 11, 1919 - Armistice Day (so named and dated to commemorate the signing of the armistice that ended World War I) was observed for the first time in the United States.

By: The Daily Globe, Worthington Daily Globe

  • Veterans Day
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    Boy Scout Mario Frausto, 9, places flags at cemetery headstones for Veterans Day at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery outside of Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Ninety years ago today - Nov. 11, 1919 - Armistice Day (so named and dated to commemorate the signing of the armistice that ended World War I) was observed for the first time in the United States. President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed the observance, but it wasn’t until 1938 that Nov. 11 was declared a legal holiday and “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day’.”

Fifteen years later (and eight years after the end of the second world war), an Emporia, Kan., shoe store owner named Al King came up with the concept of expanding the Armistice Day holiday to celebrate all veterans, not only those who served in World War I. President Dwight Eisenhower signed a bill into law the following year, and on Nov. 11, 1954, Veterans Day was first observed as it is to this day.

Since the renaming of the holiday, U.S. soldiers have served their country in numerous other wars. From Korea to Vietnam, and from Iraq to Afghanistan, brave men and women have put their nation above everything else, and it seems the least the rest of us can do is take one day out of the year to make sure we remember and honor them. One way to do so: Simply attend one of the various Veterans Day programs in our region today and tell at least one veteran “thanks.”

And, here’s another idea: After attending an event honoring veterans, pay a visit to the closest veterans’ memorial and spend a short time reflecting. The list of names displayed at Freeedom Veterans’ Memorial Park in Worthington, for example, make an impact in quantity alone. Each of those names, after all, did their part to maintain the many freedoms we as Americans continue to hold dear today.

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