Happy birthday, Veteran's Day. Celebration of service, sacrifice and heroism is 90 years old today.

From Armistice Day in 1919 to Veterans Day today, Nov. 11 has been a day for honoring our military veterans ...

Today we express our gratitude to all U.S. military veterans and current members of our armed forces--those who are retired and remain with us, those who who have fought in the past, and as Gen. Douglas MacArthur famously said, "faded away," and those who protect us today at great personal sacrifice.
At the end of World War I, Woodrow Wilson proclaimed an Armistice Day for Nov. 11, 1919. Seven years later, Congress asked that the president issue another proclamation to observe Nov. 11 with appropriate ceremonies as "a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day.' "
Then it occurred to Al King, a Kansas shoe store owner and father of a World War II veteran, that Armistice Day should celebrate all veterans, not just World War I vets, and started a campaign to turn Armistice Day into "All" Veterans Day. The Emporia, Kan. Chamber of Commerce supported the idea and stores and some offices closed on Nov. 11, 1953, to honor veterans.
With the support of then-U.S. Rep. Ed Rees, an Emporia native, also helped push a bill making it a national holiday on and the bill was signed by into law by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1954. Later that year, Congress formally changed "Armistice Day" to "Veterans Day."
Since 1978, a trend has developed which has seen fewer schools, businesses and offices close on Veterans Day.
Contact Joan Fischer at jfischer@germanna.edu about joining the GCC Veterans Club.
Germanna has seen a surge in veteran enrollment this year due to benefits extended by the new G.I. Bill. Please see post about that below and video post on homepage highlights at http://www.germanna.edu/.