“Our Mayor Says . . . . A Change” from the November 11, 1954 Door County Advocate
Our Mayor Says . . . .
By — MAYOR STANLEY R. GREENE
A CHANGE
Nov. 11, for many years celebrated as “Armistice Day,” has now become “Veterans Day.” There is much merit and a deep significance expressed in this change. Let us hope that it indicates a changing attitude toward wars and the problems that create wars.
Originally this day was set aside in observance of the end of a long, hard war which was to end all wars and leave the world a legacy of peace. Such an event was worth the dignity of special observance and ceremony.
But the years have demonstrated, with a brutal underscoring of blood and suffering, that the first world war was not an end but a beginning out of which would grow bigger and more deadly wars. To continue to celebrate a day whose importance was based on the idea that wars could ever be eliminated by wars was a mockery.
For many years, the Armistice Day celebrations changed gradually into ceremonies paying tribute to those who had died in that war. But the nation already had a Memorial Day for the purpose of paying tribute to all war dead so the Nov. 11 ceremonies seemed to become something of a minor repetition of the Memorial Day ceremonies.
Finally the idea was proposed that Nov. 11 be dedicated, not to the memory of the dead but to the memory of the living veterans. It seems a practical idea, for the living are as worthy of such tribute as are the dead — and certainly more appreciative.
Nov. 11 then, has changed not only its name but its purpose. We have come to the knowledge that to celebrate either the beginning or the end of any war is pointless. History demonstrates that no one ever wins a war and that the end of a war leaves nothing settled that was previously in doubt.
Two terrible wars in our own generation have taught us that war does not enrich or ennoble. But they have also taught us that men, by their devotion and sacrifice, can do what war cannot do — enrich and ennoble the cause which they serve.
That is what we now celebrate on Nov. 11.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
Articles about Veterans Day
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/veterans-day