Published on Monday, November 11, 2024

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

On Monday, expats living in Costa Rica are observing the U.S. Veterans Day, a tribute to all military veterans who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces.

The day also marks Remembrance Day, which honors veterans in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and other Commonwealth countries.

U.S. Veterans Day, not to be confused with Memorial Day, observed last Monday, May 27, which honors those who died while in service. The U.S. has about 18 million veterans, according to U.S. census data.

The U.S. Embassy and Consular Section will remain closed on Monday due to the commemoration of Veterans Day. The diplomatic headquarters will reopen to the public again Tuesday at their normal time from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The British Embassy in Costa Rica usually updates its social media with a photo of poppies. The flower is the icon of the holiday because of the poem “In Flanders Field,” written during the First World War by Canadian Lieutenant-colonel John McCrae.

Veterans Day, originally celebrated as Armistice Day, was first ordered on November 11, 1919, by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson a year after the end of World War I. The purpose of Armistice Day was to honor the fallen soldiers of The Great War for their sacrifice and bravery. Seven years later in 1926, Congress adopted a resolution requesting President Calvin Coolidge to issue annual proclamations on Nov. 11, making Armistice Day a legal holiday.


In 1945, World War II veteran Raymond Weeks had the idea to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans rather than just the ones who died in World War I. He led a delegation to General Dwight Eisenhower, who supported the idea.


Weeks observed the first Veterans Day celebration in 1945 in Alabama and every year until his death in 1985. In 1982, he was honored by President Ronald Reagan with the Presidential Citizenship Medal. Weeks was also named the “Father of Veterans Day” by Elizabeth Dole.


Ed Rees, the U.S. representative from Emporia, Kansas, presented a bill establishing the holiday to Congress. Eisenhower, who was now president and also from Kansas, signed the bill into law on May 26, 1954, approximately 8.5 years after Weeks held the first Veterans Day. A few weeks later, on June 1, Congress amended the bill replacing “Armistice” with “Veterans.”


The National Veterans Award was also created in 1954, first received by Rees for his support in making Veterans Day a federal holiday. Though the holiday is currently and was originally celebrated on Nov. 11, the day was moved to the fourth Monday of October in 1971 due to the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. However, only seven years later in 1978, it was moved back to Nov. 11.

----------------
What have you heard about expats commemorating Veterans and Remembrance Day in Costa Rica?  We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com