Tomorrow, Friday, November 10, there will be a Veterans Day luncheon held from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Livingston Senior Community Center. There will also be a ceremony held in memory of the late Murray Sklar, a Marine Corps veteran of the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, at Temple Beth Shalom at 11 a.m. on Sunday, November 12. We encourage the community to attend these meaningful events and thank our local veterans who have served. We extend our gratitude to our veterans for supporting us, and we should all do what we can to return the favor.
In contrast to Memorial Day, which honors those military personnel who gave their lives in service to our country, Veterans Day pays tribute to all who have served in the military, past and present.
Veterans Day originated as Armistice Day, which was first celebrated on November 11, 1919, the one-year anniversary of the end of World War I. Congress passed a resolution in 1926 for an annual observance, and November 11 became a national holiday beginning in 1938. In 1954, with both World War II and the Korean War in the recent past, the day’s name was changed to Veterans Day to honor American veterans of all wars. The Armistice signed at the “11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month” of 1918 brought World War I, the so-called “War to End All Wars,” to an end. But sadly, that war did not end war at all; over a century later, we still go to war. Because war may well be an endless plague on humanity, endless, too, must be our gratitude for those who take up arms in defense of our nation and our freedom.
