Most of our observed federal holidays come and go without much notice. Some insensitive people might even grumble about no mail or bank service those days. Veterans Day, always on November 11, is upon us. We will just have returned from Branson, Missouri, a town that I’ve concluded is the most patriotic city in the whole USA. We travel with organized bus tours that have always scheduled seven shows per visit. Over the half dozen times we’ve traveled there, I can vouch for the fact that every show we’ve attended has paid respect to veterans in the audience by having them stand and be recognized.
The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 has a certain ring to it that we can easily remember. That marks the time when the warring countries agreed to a ceasefire in World War I. Beginning in 1938, the date became a national holiday in remembrance of all citizens who wore the military uniform at any time in our history.
The buildup to entering this war fought on European battlefields was complicated, almost beyond understanding. Bullets had started flying already in the summer of 1914 after the assassination of the rather insignificant leader of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Previously, European countries had been harping at one another and were divided into confusing factions of alliances and treaties. As a consequence to the assassination, war began and resulted in a staggering 17 million deaths with 20 million wounded. Probably the best history of the affair can be found in reading Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August.
Here in North Dakota, the mood of the people tended towards maintaining neutrality and that the war in Europe resulted from trade rivalries. As for entering the war, Elwyn Robinson’s book History of North Dakota states “Most North Dakotans believed that munitions makers were behind the preparedness movement.”
President Woodrow Wilson promoted neutrality despite harassment from German submarines that continually sank shipping, including the Lusitania, and a faction who pressured him to enter the war. Wilson maintained his neutrality stance until escalating events forced him to ask Congress for a declaration of war. One good reason for not entering the war had been our woefully unprepared military.
Teddy Roosevelt just couldn’t contain himself. He did not like Wilson and wanted him to step up. He said of his refusal to prepare, “My God, why doesn’t he do something?” Apparently TR wanted to lead a military unit to battle again. Wilson would have none of it, thinking that Mr. Roosevelt would propagandize it into another “Charge up San Juan Hill” and then try to win the presidency again.
The interception of a secret document called the Zimmerman Telegram had a lot to do in convincing Wilson that the U.S. must go to war. Germany had learned of the anti-American sentiment in Mexico and tried to take advantage of it by sending a coded message to Mexico in January 1917. It urged them to consider joining a potential military alliance between Germany, Mexico, and Japan in the event the U.S. entered the war. It promised military and financial support if the Mexicans would attack the United States, and in exchange Mexico would be free to claim its old territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.
“Good Lord,” President Wilson said when he was told of the details. The telegram was then leaked to the American press that published it to an astonished public in March 1917. A month later, America was in the war.
A book titled Ransom County’s Loyal Defenders by Michael and Ann Knudson gives an excellent picture of the county’s contributions to the military in World War I. The following quote from the book states, “There were over 600 veterans from Ransom County who served in many different units, including the Navy, the Marine Corps, and the Army. There were at least five women from Ransom County who served as nurses.” Thirty one county men and women died in service from wounds, accidents, or illness.
I remember years ago hearing the term Armistice Day mentioned while referring to the holiday. In 1954, President Eisenhower officially changed the name of the holiday from Armistice Day to Veterans Day so it would honor all veterans rather than commemorate the end of a single war. Unlike Memorial Day, Veterans Day pays tribute to all American veterans—living or dead—but especially gives thanks to living veterans who served their country honorably during war or peacetime.
By the way, “Veterans Day” spelled without the apostrophe is not a grammatical error. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the holiday doesn’t belong to veterans (in which case it would be Veterans’ Day) but is, instead, “a day for honoring all veterans.” We’ll commemorate the day many times in Branson, Missouri.
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