To the Editor:
Many of our older folks can still remember Armistice Day, Nov. 11, created in 1919 by President Woodrow Wilson at the end of World War I, celebrating the cessation of hostilities.
As a youth, I recall watching parades with flags flying and a few surviving Civil War and Spanish American War veterans riding in convertables.
I was proud to watch dozens of returning World War I soldiers in their wool uniforms marching to the cadence of band music: flags flying and bystanders saluting our nation’s colors as they passed.
A decade after World War II, President Eisenhower and Congress changed Nov. 11 Armistice Day to Veterans Day, honoring veterans serving in all wars.
Today, I have observed, the parades and bystanders do not demonstrate the same spirit and honor to our colors and recognizing our veterans as in the past. I have watched male bystanders, hands in pockets, as our nation’s colors pass. I can tell the veterans from those who are not.
Our citizens need to rekindle that former feeling of enthusiasm and spirit. Many do not honor our nation’s colors as they pass and today it seems, while our nation’s colors continue to lead the parade, there is more commercialization than honoring veterans.
