Happy Veteran’s Day - About A Special Veteran - History of Veteran’s Day

Rickey Stokes

Viewed: 2008

Posted by: RStokes
Date: Nov 11 2016 1:17 PM

I personally want to say a great big THANK YOU to all who have served or that are serving in the Military to protect the freedoms we take for granted.

You sacrifice a lot  in your life in order to protect each and every individual in this country. You move away from your family and friends, move across the world to unknown countries, adapt, and make sure America is protected.

You each have determination in your lives. Determination that is a driving force to fight. And you fight and sacrifice your lives and health often times for causes of politicians that you and other American’s do not agree with.

But even with not agreeing, you press on and give it your all to win the objective.

I want to say thank you for all you do. I picked some random FB photos. Some I do not even know and have never met in my life. But you are part of the military and are giving or have given for America.

ONE VETERAN

There is one veteran that I know personally. He was in the military. He was Black Hawk helicopter pilot and was a dedicated Special Forces Soldier, Army Combat Veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

Nothing to do with the military, he was in a motorcycle accident and paralyzed from the waist down.

Because of his dedication and winning attitude, Anthony is the most non handicapped - handicapped person that I have ever met.

After the accident Anthony got a 5 speed truck determined to drive it, put his own sprinkler system in with a walk behind trencher, built a two story house, and other things. He never said " I can’t". He has been a great mentor to many and a great inspiration.

Before being injured, Anthony Radetic loved to live life on the edge. He drove a sports car, served in the Army as a Blackhawk Helicopter pilot and was a dedicated Special Forces soldier. After a motor vehicle accident cost him the use of his legs, Radetic had to find new ways to live the fast-paced life he had grown accustom to.

While receiving care at the Tampa VA Medical Center, Radetic was encouraged by staff to look into attending some of VA’s National Rehabilitative Special Events.

In 2009, he attended the National Veterans Wheelchair Games for the first time, as well as the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic and the National Veterans Summer Sports Clinic. His experiences competing in the world of adaptive sports lit a spark for Radetic and he learned how to enjoy living an active lifestyle like he did before his injury. He also signed up with the PVA Racing Team, and now has a couple of handcycle races under his belt.

One of the proudest moments for Radetic was serving as a mentor for “Kids Day” at the 2010 Games in Denver. Radetic, who has a little girl of his own and a boy, loves inspiring children with disabilities to get involved with adaptive sports.

The veteran’s are these type people. Never quitters and always fighting.

THANKS for all you do.

JASON BARFIELD

Marine Cpl. Jason Barfield who Died October 24, 2011 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom. At age 22, of Ashford, Ala.; assigned to 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif.; died Oct. 24 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

A young man with a great personality, who loved life, loved his family, and loved his friends. From Ashford/Cowarts community, graduated from Ashford High School, but made the ultimate sacrifice for each of us.

We love you Jason and thank you for your sacrifice.

HISTORY OF VETERAN’S DAY

On November 11, 1919, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson issued a message to his countrymen on the first Armistice Day in which he expressed what he felt the day meant to Americans:

"ADDRESS TO FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN The White House, November 11, 1919. A year ago today our enemies laid down their arms in accordance with an armistice which rendered them impotent to renew hostilities, and gave to the world an assured opportunity to reconstruct its shattered order and to work out in peace a new and juster set of inter national relations. The soldiers and people of the European Allies had fought and endured for more than four years to uphold the barrier of civilization against the aggressions of armed force. We ourselves had been in the conflict something more than a year and a half. - With splendid forgetfulness of mere personal concerns, we re modeled our industries, concentrated our financial resources, increased our agricultural output, and assembled a great army, so that at the last our power was a decisive factor in the victory. We were able to bring the vast resources, material and moral, of a great and free people to the assistance of our associates in Europe who had suffered and sacrificed without limit in the cause for which we fought. Out of this victory there arose new possibilities of political freedom and economic concert. The war showed us the strength of great nations acting together for high purposes, and the victory of arms foretells the enduring conquests which can be made in peace when nations act justly and in furtherance of the common interests of men. To us in America the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with - solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service, and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of nations.

WOODROW WILSON."^[2]

The United States Congress adopted a resolution on June 4, 1926, requesting that President Calvin Coolidge issue annual proclamations calling for the observance of November 11 with appropriate ceremonies.^[2] A Congressional Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U.S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday: "a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as ’Armistice Day’."^[3]

In 1945, World War II veteran Raymond Weeks from Birmingham, Alabama, had the idea to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans, not just those who died in World War I. Weeks led a delegation to Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, who supported the idea of National Veterans Day. Weeks led the first national celebration in 1947 in Alabama and annually until his death in 1985. President Reagan honored Weeks at the White House with the Presidential Citizenship Medal in 1982 as the driving force for the national holiday. Elizabeth Dole, who prepared the briefing for President Reagan, determined Weeks as the "Father of Veterans Day."

U.S. Representative Ed Rees from Emporia, Kansas, presented a bill establishing the holiday through Congress. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, also from Kansas, signed the bill into law on May 26, 1954. It had been eight and a half years since Weeks held his first Armistice Day celebration for all veterans.^[4]

Congress amended the bill on June 1, 1954, replacing "Armistice" with "Veterans," and it has been known as Veterans Day since.^[5][6]

The National Veterans Award was also created in 1954. Congressman Rees of Kansas received the first National Veterans Award in Birmingham, Alabama for his support offering legislation to make Veterans Day a federal holiday.

Although originally scheduled for celebration on November 11 of every year, starting in 1971 in accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, Veterans Day was moved to the fourth Monday of October (Oct 25, 1971; Oct 23, 1972; Oct 22, 1973; Oct 28, 1974; Oct 27, 1975; Oct 25, 1976 and Oct 24, 1977). In 1978, it was moved back to its original celebration on November 11. While the legal holiday remains on November 11, if that date happens to be on a Saturday or Sunday, then organizations that formally observe the holiday will normally be closed on the adjacent Friday or Monday, respectively.

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