Veterans’ Day (5 posts)

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  • Profile picture of Groucho Groucho said 6 months, 2 weeks ago:

    Tomorrow is Veterans’ Day. It used to be Armistice Day in remembrance of the end of WW1, then came to symbolize peace in general. Not sure when it became a day to honor vets (help, Catpaw), but I still like the peace angle. I celebrate my own Armistice Day on July 27. It was on that date in 1953 that the cease fire took effect on the Korean Peninsula. Wow! That was some kind of time. One day you are convinced that you are about one bullet from having your ticket punched, and the next no one is shooting at you. Good sleeping that night.

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  • Profile picture of catpaw catpaw said 6 months, 2 weeks ago:

    President Wilson declared Armistice Day in 1919 to coincide with the end of WWI. President Eisenhower signed the bill into law making Veterans Day a federal holiday in 1954. This year Vets Day is observed on the 12th to accomodate a three-day weekend.
    The holidays are sometimes confused with Memorial Day, which honors those who lost their lives in service of the country, which has its beginnings to honor Civil War dead of both sides.

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  • Profile picture of catpaw catpaw said 6 months, 2 weeks ago:

    My recollections of being in the army are of a teen grunt; a kid who doesn’t exist anymore and lived a lifetime ago. Yet, the experience is a good part of what I am now. Truely a lasting education one doesn’t get in college.
    Military life, as any vet knows, is a different world than that of civilian; not easily explained or comprehended by one who never experienced wearing the uniform. I recall coming home from overseas (Vietnam) and everything felt so strange. Took awhile to adjust.

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  • Profile picture of Groucho Groucho said 6 months, 1 week ago:

    Family came in for a surprise visit over weekend. My son thought I should tell grandkids about war (don’t know why ’cause I never told kids about it), anyway I let them ask some questions and one thing led to another; kids started asking questions and it was a long session. Guess it was OK, although I noticed a couple of grandkids looked at me a little strangely later. A lot of things came back that had dimmed. Yeah cat, adjustment was hard but time helps. Talking always helped.
    So, since I didn’t do it yesterday I am having absent friends drinks today.

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  • Profile picture of SWVoice SWVoice said 6 months, 1 week ago:

    I lived in Germany for a total of eight years. Germans begin a period of partying known as “Fasching” at the eleventh minute. of the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month. It is a spin-off of Armistice Day. The end of WWI in Germany was a huge event, of course.

    More…
    What is Fasching?
    I’m sure you’ve heard of the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It’s been celebrated for centuries and is known world wide. However, many people still do not understand what Fasching is in Germany.

    Fasching is Germany’s carnival season. It starts on the 11th day of November at exactly 11minutes after 11am and ends at the stroke of midnight on Shroud Tuesday – often referred to as Fat Tuesday (the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday). Fasching is more or less a Roman Catholic and Christian Orthodox celebration and most Protestant and non-Christian areas do not celebrate it.

    Fasching (also known as Karneval) is a time of festivity and merry making – a time to break the rules, poke fun at those who make them and then to make your own new rules.

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