Thanks to all our military veterans!

Veteran's Day… when I was a wee, little lad it was known as Armistice Day and celebrated the end of the Great War, or World War.  The signing of the Armistice was held on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, and all the signatories signed the documents ending the war that was then believed to be the one to end all major wars.

In my early shool years Armistice Day was a legal holiday, but none of the businesses or government agencies were closed then.  At 11:11 AM all students would stand up next to their desks and we would observe a minute of silent prayer to honor those who died in the war.  During WWII, at the same moment everybody would do the same whereever they were.  Even the auto traffic in the cities would stop and the passengers would step outside the car and pay their respects.  At the time, there were thousands more dying every week in the European and Pacific theaters.

Wikipedia has a concise review of how Armistice Day – a day to honor WWI casualties – became Veterans Day to celebrate and honor all military veterans:

In 1953, an Emporia, Kansas, man named Alvin King the owner of a shoe repair shop, had the idea to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans, not just those who died in World War I. King had been actively involved with the American War Dads during World War II. He began a campaign to turn Armistice Day into "All" Veterans Day. The Emporia Chamber of Commerce took up the cause after determining that 90% of Emporia merchants as well as the Board of Education supported closing their doors on November 11 to honor all veterans. With the help of U.S. Representative Ed Rees, also from Emporia, a bill for the holiday was pushed through Congress. President Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law on May 26, 1954.

Numerology trivialists have also been awaiting this particular day because later this morning, and again 12 hours later tonight, the calendar clocks will record a moment that only occurs every 100 years.   Specifically, they will display 12 consecutive 1's, i.e.:  11/11/11, 11:11:11.  You can double your pleasure and double your fun by watching this unique online dynamic calendar clock:  http://www.yugop.com/ver3/stuff/03/fla.html

Now let's have some early fun with clipboards and get our equipment checked out.  Remember that all the Gummint workers are off today, so things will be a little different on the streets.  I'll get some more coffee started now and see you back in the day room shortly.

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"Only you can prevent first responder"