The 11th Hour: The Date Behind Veterans Day

While most know that Veterans Day honors those who have served in the military, the meaning behind its exact date (November 11) may not be so familiar. Here's the backstory:

Back in 1918, in the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, a stop to hostilities was declared, ending World War I. An armistice to cease the fighting on the Western Front was signed by the Allied powers and Germany.

President Woodrow Wilson immediately proclaimed the day "Armistice Day," kicking off the annual commemoration on November 11. But over the years, with veterans returning from World War II and the Korean War, Armistice Day became Veterans Day — a day reserved to honor veterans returning from all wars. But 11/11 still represented the end of the Great War in the public's mind, and the date stuck.

In 1921, unidentified dead from the war were buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., Westminster Abbey in London, and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The tradition to honor those killed in the war but never identified continues every year in the U.S. The ceremony is held at 11 a.m. at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

Congress designated Veterans Day as a legal holiday in 1938, and since then, most Americans have come to know it as a day for store sales and parades.

Yahoo! Searches on the holiday have already surged on the Web. People want to know "veterans day history," "veterans day closings," veterans day sales," and "veterans day free meals." (by Claudine Zap, Yahoo.com)

I just want to say thank you to all our troops out there who fight when others think we shouldn't. Thank you for the precious time you spend away from your beloved families in the name of God and Liberty. May God bless you and keep you safe til you are able to return home.

Lady Liberty

Lady Liberty's actual name is Liberty Enlightening the World. The statue was given to America by France as a gift celebrating the centennial signing of the Declaration of independence and also representing friendship between the two countries established during the American Revolution.


The first model of the statue was created out of terracotta clay in 1870.  The American people would pay for the pedestal for Lady Liberty to stand on whilst the French were responsible for the statue.

Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi sculpted the statue and it was completed in July of 1884 in France.


The statue arrived in New York Harbor on June 17, 1885 on board the French frigate Isère. To prepare for transit, the Statue was reduced to 350 individual pieces and packed in 214 crates. (The right arm and the torch, which were completed earlier, had been exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, and thereafter at Madison Square in New York City.)

Financing for the pedestal was completed on August 11, 1885 and construction was finished on April 22, 1886. When the last stone of the pedestal was swung into place the masons reached into their pockets and showered into the mortar a collection of silver coins.

Lady Liberty stands 305 ft 1 in from foundation to the tip of the torch. 450,000 pounds is the total weight of the statue. Her outer coat is only 2 pennies or 2.4 mm thick and is made of copper.

The grey-green color is called patina, and is caused by a chemical reaction which produces copper salts resulting in the current hue.

The sandstone used in the base is from Locharbriggs Quarry on the edge of Dumfries in south west Scotland.




There are 354 steps inside the statue and its pedestal, with 25 windows in the crown which comprise the jewels beneath the seven rays of the diadem. The keystone which the statue holds in her left hand reads, in Roman numerals, "July 4, 1776" the day of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

The Statue of Liberty was engineered to withstand heavy winds. Winds of 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) cause the Statue to sway 3 inches (76 mm) and the torch to sway 5 inches (130 mm). This allows the Statue to move rather than break in high wind load conditions.


The statue, which was stored for eleven months in crates waiting for its pedestal to be finished, was then reassembled in four months. On October 28, 1886, the Statue of Liberty was unveiled by President Grover Cleveland in front of thousands of spectators.

The statue, also known affectionately as "Miss Liberty" (and "Lady Liberty") "the Lady", has become a symbol of freedom and liberty. Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi also created another "Lady Liberty" which is displayed in Paris, France.

Worldwide, the Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognizable icons of the United States and was, from 1886 until the Jet Age, often one of the first glimpses of the United States for millions of immigrants after ocean voyages from Europe.

The bronze plaque, located in the Statue of liberty exhibit on the second floor of the pedestal, is inscribed with the sonnet "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus. It has never been engraved on the exterior of the pedestal, despite such depictions in editorial cartoons.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

 (Source: Wikipedia)

 I read a book as when I was a little girl about this. It told of a young girl that lived in New York and wanted to help raise money for the pedestal. She found a way to make paper crowns like Lady Liberty's. She and her classmates sold the crowns to people and thus the children were able to help pay for the pedestal in a small way. I don't remember if it was a true story or not. So many people sacrificed so much for this beautiful statue! What it stands for is at the heart patriotism. When we went to New York a couple of years ago. We were walking through the park on the way to catch the ferry to go to Ellis Island and also

Video of Lady Liberty

Soldiers little girl "didn't want to let go".

This was a story I saw on the web about a week ago. It was touching to read here is the article from NBC Philadelphia.

A family photo that shows a little girl beside her father and his fellow soldiers in uniform as they prepare to go to war has resonated well beyond the tight knit Bennethum clan. Four-year-old Paige Bennethum really, really didn't want her daddy to go to Iraq. So much so, that when Army Reservist Staff Sgt. Brett Bennethum lined up in formation at his deployment this July, she couldn't let go. No one had the heart to pull her away.

The commanding officer allowed Paige to say goodbye as her dad prepared to ship off from Fort Dix. Paige's mom Abby captured the moment with her camera and her aunt passed the image along to a Berks County, Pa. newspaper. "I’ve had strangers looking me up online, sending me messages that they are touched by it ... offering a lot of support," Abby Bennethum told NBCPhiladelphia.

The picture took on a life of its own online this week. Abby says that suddenly, people were knocking on her door. "Literally overnight, there's all these people that just want to do anything they can," she says. Though she says her husband hasn't seen any stories about his family yet, he expects to.

For her part, Paige still remembers how she felt that day in July. Looking at the picture of herself -- her dad now overseas -- Paige remembers, "I didn't want to let go of him."

She calls the work he does transporting supplies across the Iraqi border, "just nice." But that doesn't change her feelings."I just miss my dad right now," she says.

Sgt. Bennethum, 30, is expected home next July. Until then, Paige plans to help her mom take care of her little sister and a new baby that's on the way.

I can't even imagine the struggle military families have when they send off their loved ones. What these men and women do for our country when they give their time, their talents, and sometimes their lives for our freedom is something that I have the utmost respect for. I have always liked the phrase "Home of the Free, because of the Brave." 

I hope that as a country we can turn back to our past and find the spirit of courage and sacrifice. There once had was great love of this country of ours. Let us find it once again within ourselves and spread it far and wide!

Columbus Day!

Christopher Columbus (c. 1451 – 20 May 1506) was a navigator, colonizer and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean led to general European awareness of the American continents in the Western Hemisphere.

Columbus's initial 1492 voyage came at a critical time of growing national imperialism and economic competition between developing nation states seeking wealth from the establishment of trade routes and colonies. In this sociopolitical climate, Columbus's far-fetched scheme won the attention of Isabella I of Castile. Severely underestimating the circumference of the Earth, he estimated that a westward route from Iberia to the Indies would be shorter and more direct than the overland trade route through Arabia. If true, this would allow Spain entry into the lucrative spice trade — heretofore commanded by the Arabs and Italians. Following his plotted course, he instead landed within the Bahamas Archipelago at a locale he named San Salvador. Mistaking the North-American island for the East-Asian mainland, he referred to its inhabitants as "Indios".

In 1492 Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue!!!!
Columbus Day first became an official state holiday in Colorado in 1905, and became a federal holiday in 1934. However, people have celebrated Columbus' voyage since the colonial period. In 1792, New York City and other U.S. cities celebrated the 300th anniversary of his landing in the New World. In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison called upon the people of the United States to celebrate Columbus Day on the 400th anniversary of the event. During the 400-year anniversary in 1892, teachers, preachers, poets and politicians used Columbus Day rituals to teach ideals of patriotism. These patriotic rituals were framed around themes such as support for war, citizenship boundaries, the importance of loyalty to the nation, and celebrating social progress.

Some Italian-Americans observe Columbus Day as a celebration of their heritage, the first occasion being in New York City on October 12, 1866. Columbus Day was first popularized as a holiday in the United States through the lobbying of Angelo Noce, a first generation Italian, in Denver. The first official, regular Columbus Day holiday was proclaimed by Colorado governor Jesse F. McDonald in 1905 and made a statutory holiday in 1907. In April 1934, as a result of lobbying by the Knights of Columbus, Congress and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt October 12 was made a federal holiday under the name Columbus Day and a Federal holiday.
Since 1971, the holiday has been fixed to the second Monday in October, coincidentally the same day as Thanksgiving in neighboring Canada (which was fixed to that date in 1959). It is generally observed today by banks, the bond market, the U.S. Postal Service and other federal agencies, most state government offices, and some school districts. Some businesses and stock exchanges remain open, however, and there is a trend among some states and municipalities away from observing the holiday. (Wikipedia: Columbus Day)


It seems as though less and less organizations and people recognize Columbus day. It saddens me because I remember in elementary school Columbus day being a day of lots of historical information and craft projects dedicated to this special man and the group of people that accompanied him in his journey to push the envelope. While he maybe wasn't the first person to "discover America", he definitely brought the discovery to the forefront of the ancient world. And for that he deserves the recognition. So Happy Columbus Day everyone!