Today is Veterans Day. This is the day we honor those who have served in the United States Armed Forces.
The day started as Armistice Day 100 years ago. The major hostilities of World War I formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect.
The first anniversary of this day, the first Armistice Day recognition, occurred November 11, 1919. Throughout the country, the day was remembered by proclamations and events.
At 11:00 a.m., all traffic and business in the Chicago Loop stopped. Pedestrians faced toward the east, towards Flanders Fields, for a minute of silence to “render homage to the memory of the soldiers, sailors and marines sacrificed in the war,” per the direction of Mayor William Hale Thompson. Flanders Fields are the WWI battlefield sites in Belgium and France, the “Western Front,” that today are filled with tens of thousands of red poppies.
At 11:01 a.m., bands in various parts of the Loop, arranged by the Red Cross, began playing, with singing leaders to direct the crowds in patriotic songs. The bands played until 2:00 p.m.
The American Legion, a new veterans organization formed just that year, held an athletic carnival at White Sox Park. Special events were held for the city’s 360,000 school children. Clergymen made the Armistice the subject of their sermons, and businesses and homes decorated with the U.S. flag.
Congress declared this day a federal holiday in 1938. After World War II, the day was expanded to include all veterans, and was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.
Some sites and sights to bring Veterans Day home to the Ridge communities: A vintage postcard; the grave site of Kate Near, U. S. Civil War nurse, at Mt. Greenwood Cemetery; graves with soldier statues at Mt. Olivet Cemetery; the memorials at Ridge Park. Photos by C. Flynn.