Veterans Day: A Tribute To All Who Served
Veterans Day: Saluting All Who Served – 2014 Poster
“Since the birth of our Nation, American patriots have stepped forward to serve our country and defend our way of life. With honor and distinction, generations of servicemen and women have taken up arms to win our independence, preserve our Union, and secure our freedom. From the Minutemen to our Post-9 /11 Generation, these heroes have put their lives on the line so that we might live in a world that is safer, freer, and more just, and we owe them a profound debt of gratitude. On Veterans Day, we salute the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen who have rendered the highest service any American can offer, and we rededicate ourselves to fulfilling our commitment to all those who serve in our name.” Excerpt from President Barack Obama’s Proclamation on Veterans Day 2014
Today, we honor and salute all of our armed forces; men and women, about 22 million Veterans have reintegrated into society, who served in the United States Armed Forces. On November 11, 1947, Raymond Weeks of Birmingham, Alabama, organized the first Veterans Day parade to honor our service men and women for their efforts. At that time, it was called Armistice Day. Later on, U.S. Representative Edward H. Rees of Kansas proposed legislation for a name change from Armistice Day to Veterans Day. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill in 1954 proclaiming November 11th as Veterans Day, and everyone honored that date until another change occurred fourteen years later. In 1968, the date was moved to the fourth Monday in October. Congress soon recognized the historical importance of November 11th and changed it back in 1978.
The American Veteran – Show #905
The tradition of having the ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery continues till this day. On the morning of the 11th, at 11AM, a group of guards from each of the military services, pay their respects to those who died at war in an impressive ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns. The President or his designated representative then places a wreath at the Tomb. A bugler sounds “Taps.” which is quite haunting and then the ceremony moves to the Memorial Amphitheater, adjacent to the Tomb. A “Parade of Flags” by Veterans service organizations is also part of the second half of the ceremonies performed on that day. The Veterans Day National Committee which organizes the ceremonies, also supports a number of Veterans Day Regional Sites: There are 67 sites in 39 states and the sites hold a variety of community celebrations, on Veterans Day, to honor the living and keep the memories of loved ones lost alive. Did your/your community participate in it this year?
More below
“Honoring the sacrifices many have made for our country in the name of freedom and democracy is the very foundation of Veterans Day.” Charles B. Rangel
The American Veteran – Women at War
One thing that stands out on this day is the spirit of gratitude that many express towards our servicemen and women. My prayer is that all of us will remember to give thanks for the blessings of freedom and peace we enjoy. Let us add Peace to the top of our special list of gifts we plan to share with family, friends and ultimately, with the world today and throughout this holiday season. May peace prevail in our heart. What does this day mean to you? How do you honor Veterans Day? Thank you.
Positive Motivation Tip: On Veterans Day, spend some time reflecting on how you can contribute to peace making in your home, community, country and globally. Each of us can make a difference.
PHOTO CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS: All Photos Veteran’s Day, Veterans-Armistice Day, via Wikipedia. VD Poster, via Dept of Veteran’s Affairs.
Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank
Mirth and Motivation
Positive Kismet
Reblogged this on auntyuta.
Thanks for this post, Elizabeth. I want to reblog it. Thanks
Thank you for the reblog. Appreciated!
This was a lovely post. I am married to a Veteran, so this day has extra special meaning to us!
Sending greetings of gratitude to him. 🙂
Fabulous post!!!! And happy veterans day to all that have served ❤
Thank you for your kind words. Veterans Day is dear to my heart.
Thank you! 🙂
This is a beautiful post.
Writing and photos! Happy Veterans day! What’s way to honor!
Thank you! My dad was in Burma back in WW1. He was very proud of his service there and so I always feel grateful for the bravery of our service men and women. If you can, watch the videos. They are very insightful.
Sending a special thanks out there to all of those who served. Thanks for sharing this extra special post.
Thank you for sharing your well wishes to the Veterans today!
The veterans deserve to be highly respected. They have sacrificed a lot for the country.
Yes, they made the ultimate sacrifice when they stepped up to serve.
This is a great post. It is important to remember all the people who fight for our freedom.
Thank you! I appreciate the memorials and ceremonies
Happy Veterans Day. They really deserve being honored for all their sacrifices and contributions.
Yes. They paid the ultimate price.
I am so thankful for all the veterans who make our freedom possible!
Posts like these are always so touching to me. Most of my family has served in the military, so these always hit close to home.
Thank you Pam. Be proud of their courage. 🙂
Great post! Very endearing to me and a proud salute to all!
Our true heroes… Happy Veteran’s Day to everyone!!!
We have many veterans in our neighborhood, and the flags are waving. My brother was on a supply ship off the coast of Vietnam, and my dad in World War II.
Wonderful! A heartfelt thanks to them.
Thank you for a great post. Thank you to all the veterans, current and future military men and women.
I concur! 🙂
Such a wonderful share of post you have here – Happy veterans day.
Grateful. Thank you!
The poster is very interesting, I haven’t seen that around. There is something very timeless about it, if it didn’t have the year 2014 on it I would actually think it were older!
The Dept Of Veterans Affairs publishes a new poster each year. They have them on the website.
That’s a very interesting poster, there is something old-fashioned about it. If the year 2014 weren’t on it, I would think it was from many years ago! I like it though.
Thank you for sharing. I am extremely thankful for all the troops who serve for our freedom. I am also thankful for the spouses and children who support their soldier.
Thank you! 🙂
I haven’t attended ceremonies here, but in my last town, I would go to the local cemetery where they had something for Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day each year.
Wow! That’s interesting to have peopeople gather at the cemetery.
Thank you Eliz.
Such a beautiful tribute, our prayers go out to all our veterans and for all they did to keep us safe!
Amen to that! ☆ ☆ ♡
We do enjoy peace and freedom, and you’re right, it’s definitely something worth appreciating. We’re very lucky, and I’m very grateful. And I loved your post.
Thank you! I appreciate your feedback. They gave so much and, sometimes, got less when they returned.
Beautiful tribute and a very well deserved one. Thanks for sharing x
Thanks for your feedback Myrabev
A beautiful tribute to your heroes Eliz. We honour ours on our republic day, so it isn’t endowed with as much emotion and poignancy.
Hi dear Madhu, So good to see you here. It is a very important event that deserves attention. Thank you for checking in. 🙂
Lovely tribute to the men in uniform. Happy Veterans Day!
I agree, Amen to that! Beautiful post, hope your day was fabulous.
Glad you made a post dedicated to the veterans. It was good remembering them for keeping the people safe.
Thank you! John, it was worth it.
Thank you for this beautiful tribute. I think our soldiers current and vets deserve our respect and appreciation shown all year round. So wonderful that you shared this!
I hold them in great esteem. It takes a special kind of people to lay their lives down for others.
Such a beautiful post, we have to respect the vets who went out and put their lives on the line for our futures!
I’m proud of them too! 🙂
Happy to hear that a day is dedicated to men who tribute their lives selflessly to the nation! Happy Veterans day!
I watched the Remembrance service here in the UK and it was truly moving. Not just the service, but also the interviews with the soldiers who went through such awful combat with such dignity and courage
It is powerful and moving to hear them speak so wistfully about their experiences… such great courage!
Thank you for putting together such a special and beautiful post celebrating our nation’s heroes! Well done and so proud.
Of course everyone of us can make a difference, by spending some time and finding ways to contribute to peace making globally & I accept it must start from our Home. Happy Veterans Day to all great people who have served for the nation.
Thank you Lisa. We can all make a difference if we try!
Thank you for sharing this! What a wonderful post!
I loved that people changed their profile pictures to veterans they knew yesterday. that was awesome.
Such a great post. Yesterday was such an emotional day.
Such a wonderful post. I salute our heroes. Happy Veteran’s Day (belated).
I have two uncles and an aunt who are/were veterans. Thanks for this.
This is an awesome tribute to those serving and those that have served. It is beautiful that people honor and salute our soldiers. Thanks for sharing.
Happy belated Veterans’ Day! My grandfather had been in the navy during world war 2!
These veterans are really such a great people who are serving the nation every moment. Their contributions are unforgettable. Thousand of honors for them. Thanks for your great post
I’m an honest person so once I read your title: I skipped right to the comment part. My dad passed this Feb he’s a 3x war vet amongst other awards and it was the army/veterans hospital that failed which caused my mom/I to loose out. So I can’t even bear to read it, I cried all yesterday, and still I’m messed up. I did see the pics there lovely but I can’t read your post. Sorry
I’m so sorry to hear about your Dad’s passing. My deepest condolences to you and your loved ones. I appreciate your honesty and send you healing love and light during this difficult phase.
Thank you
Very lovely tribute. This was a special post. Thank you!
What a great post. I have tons of navy family veterans in my family!
What a lovely post. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, we have to honor them and senior citizens too. This is the great way to thank them and give tribute for what they’ve done to our country.
What a great post! So many have come back home and not gotten the respect they deserve. I am so thankful for all they have done to help keep our country safe.
Our veterans need to be honored today and everyday! They are brave men and women
Beautiful tribute for those who served for our country! I have a few uncles that served in the Army (5 out of 6 are now deceased, though).
HilLesha
Thank you. I’m sorry to hear that some of your uncles passed away!
This is a wonderful post! It’s so important to support and celebrate our vets!
This is beautiful. I always knew that this was celebrated annually, but never knew the rights were very precise and complicated. I love how women were not forgotten in the picture, where everyone who served is honored.
Yes, we must remember those courageous women who served.
All the respect & salute to all the veterans in the world. Their dedication to serve not only their countries but other nations as well is truly astounding.
I’m always in tears after watching the videos of soldiers who served the nation and missed the growing up journey of their kids. This is a good post as a tribute for those who served!
A wonderful tribute, such a beautiful post! Lest we forget! Simone x
Honor! Courage! Loyalty!
Seems like easy to speak of yet so hard to do. My salute to those who fought and put their lives at stake for the sake of the next gen. 🙂
“Service” is such a profound word, bravery and courage, is such an admirable thing, and loyalty, is never something that could be bought, it’s usually given with a lot of sacrifice. 🙂
Thanks for sharing this…
It’s nice also to thanks some moment to think of our role in peace and nation building. In this way, those sacrifices would be rewarded.
Happy Veterans day dear. I wish we celebrate this day for those who sacrifice for us back in India. 🙂
i love reading about other cultures and holidays overseas! It’s very similar to merdeka day here in Malaysia!
Veterans day is a day that everyone should salute our heroes regardless of your personal thoughts. A great post!
Thank you Leon. I agree.
I always have utmost respect for people who serve their own country. They’re so brave, they deserve to be honored. 🙂
l’ve always had the utmost respect for people who serve their country. Such a brave and selfless thing for them to do, they deserve to be honored. <3
Thank you Daphne! I feel the same way as you do. 🙂
Lovely tribute to Rememberance day .
A day when Western worlds and those who are members of the Commonwealth, unite to remember our fallen Hero’s.
Sadly it is also the day that we find new monuments erected, to remember new fallen.
The cycle of war is an eternal curse on mankind.
Ian
I hear you… It is a bit ironic.
This is a beautiful post… Thank you for the tribute.
We honor our veterans for the peace we enjoy these days. We hope we never have to experience another devastating world war ever.
Very inspiring, They all deserve our respect! Thank you for inspiring.
I am very thankful for what Finnish veterans did for us in the WWII. It is sad to see countries still fighting. I really think that people’s lives are worth more than many of the causes for the war.
True. But sadly, the wars continue…
Nice post. In Malaysia we only have merdeka day. It’s interesting to read about other cultures.
We celebrate very differently in the UK. If you haven’t seen it already, Google ‘blood swept lands and seas of red’, it was an installation at the Tower of London last month with 888,000 poppies, one for each person who died in WW1 from the UK and the colonies…very moving!
My son and I went to the Veterans Day Parade at the Sacramento Capitol, much like what we did the past years. It’s a great feeling to be there and honor those who served our country.
Each American family has a friend and relative who has served so this day is very important to us. My father-in-law and my uncle are both veterans as well as countless friends.
What a great post, I’m so thankful to all of our veterans who have dedicated their careers and their lives to help protect and serve this nation of ours.
wow! This is an amazing post! Thanks for the share! My grandfather was a veteran…
Dawn
Great. Give Grandpa my greetings of gratitude.
This is such a very lovely tribute. It is true year to year.
Thank you for this beautiful Tribute. My great grandfather was a veteran. I loved listening to his stories
Reading this in 2021 cause I really love your pieces about Veterans Day.
Happy Veterans Day to all our veterans out here. I respect and love you all.
Veterans should be celebrated more than one day a year!
Absolutely important to honor all efforts by the veterans. Happy veterans day to celebrate
That was a beautiful and inspirational post.