Veteran's Day

[jiimbob]

100 years ago today at 11 o'clock the guns fell silent over Europe as the Germans signed the Armistice. Here in Australia it is a major day of remembrance. Not sure how America acknowledges it.
Some things bigger than sport, regardless destroy the Lakers.

 

[The Hammer]

100 years ago today at 11 o'clock the guns fell silent over Europe as the Germans signed the Armistice. Here in Australia it is a major day of remembrance. Not sure how America acknowledges it.
Some things bigger than sport, regardless destroy the Lakers.

Thank you for this. And thank you to ALL who have ever served our great country. We owe you the enjoyment we'll have watching the Kings destroy the Lakers tonight.

 

[206Fan]

100 years ago today at 11 o'clock the guns fell silent over Europe as the Germans signed the Armistice. Here in Australia it is a major day of remembrance. Not sure how America acknowledges it.
Some things bigger than sport, regardless destroy the Lakers.

The United States has a unique way of memorializing events. Unfortunately in our young history we've had so many tragedies that the latest one often becomes the "most" memorialized, although not to say that we've forgotten the others or that they hold less significance. Americans memorialize WW1 through public monuments in DC and throughout the country. We weren't heavily involved in WW1, and as a result, there's not really any type of remembrance for general Americans, but our government acknowledges it.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

100 years ago today at 11 o'clock the guns fell silent over Europe as the Germans signed the Armistice. Here in Australia it is a major day of remembrance. Not sure how America acknowledges it.
Some things bigger than sport, regardless destroy the Lakers.

America celebrates this day with a holiday called Veteran's Day, which was originally called Armistice Day. I think that at this point most Americans, if asked for the origin of Veteran's Day, would not be able to say that it came out of the armistice that ended World War I. But to be fair, America entered the war late and suffered only modest casualties (more American soldiers died of the influenza epidemic than died in battle) so WWI is not remembered in America nearly so fervently as WWII.

Your comment brought me back to a memorable passage in Winston Churchill's The World Crisis:

It was a few minutes before the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. I stood at the window of my room looking up at Northumberland Avenue towards Trafalgar Square, waiting for Big Ben to tell that the War was over. My mind strayed back across the scarring years to the scene and emotions of the night at the Admiralty when I listened for these same chimes in order to give the signal of war against Germany to our Fleets and squadrons across the world. And now all was over!
...
And then suddenly the first stroke of the chime. I looked again at the broad street beneath me. It was deserted. From the portals of one of the large hotels absorbed by Governmental Departments darted the slight figure of a girl clerk, distractedly gesticulating while another stroke resounded. Then from all sides men and women came scurrying into the street. Streams of people poured out of all the buildings. The bells of London began to clash. Northumberland Avenue was now crowded with people in the hundreds, nay, thousands, rushing hither and thither in a frantic manner, shouting and screaming with joy. I could see Trafalgar Square was already swarming. Around me in our very headquarters, in the Hotel Metropole, disorder had broken out. Doors banged. Feet clattered down corridors. Everyone rose from the desk and cast aside pen and paper. All bounds were broken. The tumult grew. It grew like a gale, but from all sides simultaneously. The street was now a seething mass of humanity. Flags appeared as if by magic. Streams of men and women flowed from the Embankment. They mingled with torrents pouring down the Strand on their way to acclaim the King. Almost before the last stroke of the clock had died away, the strict, war-straitened, regulated streets of London had become a triumphant pandemonium. At any rate it was clear that no more work would be done that day. Yes, the chains which had held the world were broken. Links of imperative need, links of discipline, links of brute force, links of self-sacrifice, links of terror, links of honour which had held our nation, nay, the greater part of mankind, to grinding toil, to a compulsive cause - every one had snapped upon a few strokes of the clock. Safety, freedom, peace, home, the dear one back at the fireside - all after fifty-two months of gaunt distortion. After fifty-two months of making burdens grievous to be borne and binding them on men's backs, at last, all at once, suddenly and everywhere the burdens were cast down.