Veterans around the world will be accorded due honor in many ways on November 11, 2011, just as they have since President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed an Armistice Day for November 11, 1919. Numerous resolutions and acts of Congress followed that proclamation, resulting in an official change in name on June 1, 1954, when Congress amended the then most recent act and replaced “Armistice” with “Veterans.” It has been known as Veterans Day ever since.
November 11 is the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice.
National Cemetery ceremonies
The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs website has a wealth of information for veterans and their families. Two links on that website that are helpful as Veterans Day approaches are:
1) 2011 Veterans Day ceremonies: This resource lists all of the VA National Cemeteries by state and tells which cemeteries will have a ceremony on 11/11/11.
2) Nationwide Gravesite Locator: This resource allows you to search for burial locations of veterans and their family members in VA National Cemeteries, state veterans cemeteries, various other military and Department of Interior cemeteries, and for veterans buried in private cemeteries when the grave is marked with a government grave marker.
From the VA: The Nationwide Gravesite Locator includes burial records from many sources. These sources provide varied data; some searches may contain less information than others. Information on veterans buried in private cemeteries was collected for the purpose of furnishing government grave markers, and we do not have information available for burials prior to 1997.
Free meals and discounts
A website named “The Military Wallet” is maintaining a list of free meals and discounts for veterans.
From their website: Veteran’s Day is soon approaching and there are many restaurants and companies who want to thank our veterans by providing them with discounts or a free meal…Our goal is to share as many of these free meals and discounts with our military veterans [as is possible] and we will update this page as soon as new information becomes available. For updated information, visit http://themilitarywallet.com/veterans-day-free-meals-and-discounts/.
When you read the above referenced article that is published on “The Military Wallet,” you will notice that the list of restaurants includes a large number of nationwide chains with some very nice offers. Also, some of the offers that are listed are for a time period leading up to Veterans Day besides being for the official 11/11/11 date.
Fee Free Day at National Parks
To honor America’s service men and women, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that areas managed by the National Park Service would not charge entrance fees for Veteran’s Day weekend – November 11-13, 2011. For more information visit the following website: http://www.nps.gov/findapark/feefreeparks.htm.
In Minnesota
In addition to the above website resource, you will find some special ‘free meal or other deals’ that are being offered in Minnesota by clicking here.
Sources:
http://themilitarywallet.com/…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Day
http://www.cem.va.gov/cem/cems/2011VetDay.asp
http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/j2ee/servlet/NGL_v1
http://rcjohnsonwriter.com/?page_id=2
http://www.nps.gov/findapark/feefreeparks.htm