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Keeping Veterans Day alive

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By ED HOOPER History News Service

The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 10, 2009

Two months ago, Jacksonville, was threatened with cancellation of its 2009 Veterans Day parade after the City Council cut the parade's funding. Only a firestorm of protests from the city's residents restored the parade.

Jacksonville is not alone. Similar stories about cancellations or threatened cancellations erupted in newspapers across the nation this year. New York, Pennsylvania and California city officials cut back on observances of the holiday, citing waning interest and declining participation.
Veterans Day is in fact a peculiar holiday. Many public schools, colleges and universities remain open - even with thousands of veterans sitting in their classrooms. Businesses operate normally. State and local governments are not required to close. Such signs of business-as-usual give city officials what they believe is reason to cut funds for Veterans Day events. Some even shamelessly request veterans' organizations to cover the costs of police and sanitation workers' overtime.

Nov. 11 was originally known as Armistice Day to commemorate the 11th day at the 11th hour of the 11th month when World War I supposedly ended with the stroke of a pen. It became an official day of observance in the United States in 1926 and a national holiday in 1938. For decades, American school children marked it with a moment of silence at 11 in the morning. On June 1, 1954, Congress changed the name from Armistice to Veterans Day to honor all U.S. veterans.

Congress passed the "Uniform Monday Holiday Act" in 1968. It moved Veterans Day and three other holidays to increase the number of long holiday weekends for federal employees. But Americans overwhelmingly said no to moving the date of Veterans Day. So in 1978 Congress returned Veterans Day to Nov. 11.

But now many communities want to de-emphasize Veterans Day. This is no way to treat the 23 million men and women among us who have served or are serving their country in uniform.

Low troop morale has destroyed armies throughout history. Americans know they must improve morale at home to do so abroad. These men and women in uniform are citizen-soldiers. After enlistment terms end - regardless of award, rank or whoever happens to be president - there are no real guarantees for jobs, homes, college educations or decent medical care without the vigilance and support of the American people to make sure that promises made to all veterans are kept. Veterans re-enter the society that they protected as regular citizens and hammer out a life with the rest of us - often at a disadvantage because of the time they took from their civilian lives to make that personal sacrifice for the nation's safety.

So it's insulting, unpatriotic and unacceptable for cities to ask struggling veterans' organizations to fund municipal services for parades on Veterans Day. Schools and universities should close and retail businesses should not open their doors until the ceremonies and parades are ended. It's a day when partisan politics should be shoved aside so communities can gather for a few hours on a city street without distraction and honor the brave men and women among us who risked their lives to protect this nation. They don't "deserve" this respect. They earned it.

Ed Hooper is an author and journalist from Knoxville, Tenn., and a writer for the History News Service. Readers may send him e-mail at ed@tennesseehistory.com.

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