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