The sold-out crowd at this year’s Veterans Day Celebration enjoyed a lovely breakfast buffet and the camaraderie of veterans from the various branches of military service and their families. The dining room reflected a sea of red, white, and blue clothing, commemorative hats and waving flags. Each veteran wore a name tag with a glittering star and their branch of service. The program, presented by Jane Hopson, was organized by several DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) members who are VCC residents. Following a prayer and opening notes, Jane introduced each branch of military service and asked members of that branch to rise. Each veteran was then presented with a small American flag by a DAR member. Once all had been introduced, the veterans gathered for a group photo in the Garden Room.
Prior to the event veterans registered in the lobby and received a ticket. Several lovely gifts were given to the lucky winners during the program. Also, in the lobby a POW/MIA table was set to commemorate those lost and missing in various wars.
The origin of Veterans Day began in 1918, at the end of four years of World War I’s devastation, when leaders negotiated for the guns in Europe to fall silent once and for all on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. It was not technically the end of the war, which came with the Treaty of Versailles. Leaders signed that treaty on June 28, 1919, five years to the day after the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand set off the conflict. But the armistice declared on November 11 held, and Armistice Day became popularly known as the day “The Great War,” which killed at least 40 million people, ended. Armistice Day became known as Veterans Day when, in 1954, Congress passed the bill that President Eisenhower signed proclaiming November 11 as Veterans Day.
At each place setting in the dining room was a small bell, and so, at 11:00 on November 11, 2024 all attendees at the VCC Veterans Day Celebration rang their bells, hushed for a moment of reflection, and then sang the Star Spangled Banner and God Bless America.
