Former Hampton student, veteran visits his old classroom

About Veterans Day

On Nov. 11 in 1918, an armistice, or cease-fire, went into effect at 11 a.m., halting combat operations on the western front of World War I.

That date and time, the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month," would later mark an annual remembrance of those lost in the "war to end all wars," called Armistice Day.

One year later, President Woodrow Wilson addressed the nation, saying, "a year ago today, our enemies laid down their arms in accordance with an armistice which rendered them impotent to renew hostilities, and gave to the world an assured opportunity to reconstruct its shattered order and to work out in peace a new and juster set of international relation."

Unfortunately, that war wasn't close to the last the world would see, and a bankrupt Germany would marshal its resources, regroup and attack the continent again just a few short decades later, launching the world into a second global conflict.

And so, in 1954, Armistice Day became Veterans Day, a day to reflect on and remember the sacrifice of all veterans, living and dead.

— Matthew Medsger, staff writer