THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 10, 1995 TAG: 9511080146
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
For a city loaded with veterans, Veterans Day 1995 is surprisingly quiet.
No announcements of any events today or tomorrow were received in the Currents office. A quick telephone check around town bore out the notion that little is being planned for the day.
One event, the dedication of a POW/MIA monument at the Naval Medical Center here, was held on Thursday.
Over the years, the meaning of the day has been watered down and, for most, it is but another holiday from work or school.
That bothers me. If we're going to have holidays, we ought to know what they are about and I'm not sure most folks have the vaguest notion about most of them. They simply take the day off.
Looking back through our library files, I did find some interesting blips in a 20-year demise of the importance of Veterans Day.
For instance, in 1986, then Portsmouth School Superintendent Rondle Edwards suggested what turned out to be a successful observation of Veterans Day at Churchland Elementary School.
The kids at that ceremony heard speakers talk about the fact that education promotes freedom and that freedom is what the nation's veterans fought to preserve.
In fact, probably the most significant fact in the history of the day is that it was designated to celebrate the end of war - World War I, that is. That was the world conflict called ``the war to end all wars.''
The day, designated in 1919 by President Woodrow Wilson, was called Armistice Day from 1919 until 1954, when the name was changed.
As a child I remember being fascinated that World War I ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. It was a fact always repeated at Armistice Day ceremonies.
Of course, back when I was a school kid, there still were plenty of people around who had fought in World War I and plenty of families who had lost members in the war. Furthermore, we had not had any more wars.
Then there was World War II and then the Korean ``conflict.'' Then the Congress changed the name from Armistice Day to Veterans Day to encompass all the people who had fought the wars that weren't supposed to happen.
The significance became even more obscured in 1971, when the government ordained that the holiday would be celebrated on the fourth Monday in October. However, that didn't last long and by 1977, the observance was returned to Nov. 11, the date of the World War I armistice.
This year the actual date falls on a Saturday, so being good Americans we're going to take our holiday on Friday and forget Veterans Day.
Now I don't think we ought to glorify war. But we certainly ought to honor the American citizens who fought our wars - whether they fought in the World Wars or in the ``conflicts'' in Korea and Vietnam.
Most of them had no choice. They were drafted or they joined other branches of the service in lieu of the draft. They accepted the burden for all the rest of us.
By and large, our warriors have fought the cause of freedom. Those who died in World Wars I and II certainly died to keep this country free from the threats of those who would like to destroy our way of life. Those who died in Korea and Vietnam were fighting the cause of democracy around the world.
If we don't teach the school kids the reason we initiated holidays such as Veterans Day, then there's no reason to give them the day off. by CNB