The Rev. Ann R. Lougee
November 11, 2007
Veterans' Day
Isaiah 2:2-4

Today is Veterans' Day, once known as Armistice Day. November 11 is the anniversary of the Armistice which was signed in the Forest of Compiegne by the Allies and the Germans in 1918, ending World War I, after four years of conflict.

At 5 A.M. on Monday, November 11, 1918 the Germans signed the Armistice, and an order was issued for all firing to cease. All over the globe there were demonstrations, with the blowing of town whistles, impromptu parades, and the closing of places of business; no doubt the world had never before witnessed such rejoicing.

In November of 1919, President Woodrow Wilson issued his Armistice Day proclamation. The last paragraph set the tone for future observances. It reads: To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations.

In 1927 Congress issued a resolution requesting President Calvin Coolidge to issue a proclamation calling upon officials to display the Flag of the United States on all government buildings on November 11, and inviting the people to observe the day in schools and churches...But it was not until 1938 that Congress passed a bill that each November 11 "shall be dedicated to the cause of world peace and ...hereafter celebrated and known as Armistice Day."

That same year President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill making the day a legal holiday in the District of Columbia. For sixteen years the United States formally observed Armistice Day, with impressive ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where the Chief Executive or his representative placed a wreath.

Now, here, also, is The Story of the Unknown Soldier. In 1921, the Unknown Soldier, symbolizing all the unknown American dead, was chosen in an unusual way. Six soldiers of the American Army of Occupation in Germany were selected from different sectors to act as pallbearers. They met at Chalons-sur-Marne, and were interviewed by General Rogers.

The next day, one of them, Sergeant Edward F. Younger of the 59th Infantry was asked to make a choice among four caskets, with unidentified bodies disinterred from American cemeteries in Europe. When the sergeant was ready to perform his solemn duty, he received a bouquet of white roses, with instructions to proceed into the City Hall at Chalons, where the four caskets stood. Sergeant Younger realized fully the grave importance of his action; and after bowing his head, he walked around the coffins three times. On the fourth round, he seemed involuntarily drawn to the second one. Reverently, he laid the roses on it, saluted and reported to his commanding officer that he had accomplished his mission.

The body of the Unknown Soldier was brought home on the cruiser, Olympia, reaching Washington, D.C., on November 9, 1921. For three days thousands of people passed by as the body lay in state in the rotunda of the Capitol. For this Armistice Day in 1921, President Harding requested that flags be flown from sunrise to sunset at half mast, and that all Americans pay silent tribute as the casket was lowered into the tomb at 11 A.M. on November 11, 1921. There were elaborate ceremonies. High army, navy, and other service personnel, along with diplomats, had followed the caisson to Arlington National Cemetery. Many wreaths came from all over our country, and from abroad, and these were placed on the plain white marble tomb, on which was inscribed these words: Here rests in honored glory An American Soldier Known but to God.

Armistice Day was observed all over the United States by veteran's parades, public services both religious and secular, with two minutes of silence to honor the dead. For many years, in many communities, the American Legion was in charge of local Armistice Day observances, which included parades and religious services. At 11 A.M. all traffic stopped, in tribute to the dead of World War I, then volleys were fired and taps sounded.

But after World War II, there were many new veterans who had little or no association with World War I. The word, "armistice," means simply a truce; therefore as years passed, the significance of the name of this holiday changed. Leaders of Veterans' groups decided to try to correct this and make November 11 the time to honor all who had fought in various American wars, not just in World War I.

In Emporia, Kansas, on November 11, 1953, instead of an Armistice Day program, there was a Veterans' Day observance. Ed Rees, of Emporia, was so impressed that he introduced a bill into the House to change the name to Veterans' Day. After this passed, Mr. Rees wrote to all state governors and asked for their approval and cooperation in observing the changed holiday.

The name was changed to Veterans' Day by Act of Congress on May 24, 1954. In October of that year, President Eisenhower called on all citizens to observe the day by remembering the sacrifices of all those who fought so gallantly, and through rededication to the task of promoting an enduring peace, in honor of the veterans of all America's wars.

The veterans that I know are in full support of any and all efforts to promote a lasting peace. My dad, who is known in our family and beyond as The Colonel and who still has a military bearing, spent three years as an anti-aircraft artillery officer in North Africa and the European theater in World War II. He left for the war the day before I was a month old, and didn't return until I was three years old. My mother spent those years coping with being a single mom. In those days before instant communications and email, letters often took weeks or months to get from a soldier to back home, so families left behind literally never knew from one letter to the next where their troops were or whether on any certain day they were even alive.

It wasn't until just a few years ago that my dad began talking and writing about some of his wartime experiences, after all these years. While he is justifiably proud of his service, I know that he had hoped that no Americans would ever again have to face the killing and destruction that he saw in his war.

But, of course, since then, we've had Korea and Viet Nam and now the Persian Gulf and Iraq and Afghanistan, and it appears we may be now spiraling down into a further expansion of hostilities.

My friend Abu Bakr Salahuddin, imam of the Islamic Center of Redding, is a member of Viet Nam Veterans for Peace, and agonizes over the current bloodshed, especially over the too-common perception that this war is about Christianity versus Islam. Like many veterans of that war, Abu returned at the end of his service to find no appreciation of his efforts or sympathy for what he'd been through, and he spent several years as a drug addict living on the streets. He has grave concerns for Viet Nam veterans still in that condition, and with the many more now returning from the Middle East with the same problems.

Yesterday at our Association meeting way up in Cedarville, we heard from a Buddhist practitioner who spoke about the mindfulness that he strives to have underlie every action, and the intention he brings to everything he does to be of benefit to all sentient beings, not to bring suffering or the causes of suffering to any sentient being. He told us that he came to be a Buddhist in mindful pursuit of a peaceful way of existing because of his experiences in the Viet Nam conflict, in which he personally killed more people, mostly innocent civilians, in Laos and Cambodia than were killed in our country on September 11, 2001. He didn't go into details, but I assumed from this that he had been flying bomber runs. He came home from that service a psychological ruin, found that his Presbyterian background no longer gave him the support that he needed, roamed all over the world, and finally found in Tibet the spiritual practice that now helps him to live with this intentionality for peace and the benefit of every sentient being.

These are just a few of the stories of veterans that come to my mind as we observe this day. With so many of our country's young women and men serving right now in hostile places, with so many of them dying, and with so many of them returning terribly wounded in body, mind or spirit, the commemoration of Veterans' Day seems especially important this year.

But as we observe this solemn day, let's remember that the original intent of it was a dedication to find the means to lasting peace. Too much of the Veterans' Day activity that I see seems to have the goal of glorifying war, when the veterans of my acquaintance who have actually seen combat know that war is, indeed, hell. They also know, as any real student of history does, that no one really wins a war.

So let's all resolve now to do all that we can to set a peaceful course for our own lives, and let's encourage, in as many ways as we can, the seeking for peaceful solutions to the world's problems.

And now, I ask all of our veterans to rise, so that we may honor you for your service to our country. Thank you. You may be seated.

And now let's observe two minutes of silence for those who did not return alive from their service to our country........

Let's sing now O Beautiful for Spacious Skies, page 440 in the red hymnal.