To mark the national observance of Veterans Day, a number of events are taking place today on the University of Wisconsin campus and across the United States.
The UW Memorial Union will host a ceremony at 4 p.m. Tuesday featuring a National Guard brass quintet and several speakers, in addition to a ceremony at 3:30 p.m. by the UW Army ROTC.
The Union itself was created with donations made in honor of veterans of foreign wars, and following Tuesday’s ceremony there will be a reception in the Main Lounge, where the names of 219 UW students who died in the Civil War, Spanish American War and World War I are listed.
UW’s cherished football stadium is another living memorial to U.S. veterans, named after the Civil War-era encampment where the field now stands. The camp was named after governor Alexander Randall, a rabid abolitionist. By the end of 1861, 70,000 Union soldiers held quarters on the grounds. One year later, 1,400 captured Confederate soldiers were housed there.
In 1938, Congress officially recognized the celebration of Armistice Day — the day World War I ended — each year on Nov. 11, a date people around the world had commemorated for years. Human history had never seen such a war, and Nov. 11 became “dedicated to the cause of world peace.”
The world had never seen a war as terrible as World War I, and many of those rejoicing hoped that remembering the moment the Germans surrendered and a cease fire was ordered would be the last memory of earth-shattering warfare.
But the wars continued, and in 1954 President Franklin Roosevelt and Congress amended their previous act to rename the holiday “Veterans Day” in memory of all of the U.S. veterans.
“It started on Nov. 11 in 1918, the day of the Armistice,” UW professor of history John Cooper said. “It’s still celebrated in many countries under that name. In Britain, they still celebrate it on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month with a national moment of silence.”
Throughout the ongoing war in Iraq, those dissenting have reiterated that while they may not support the decision to fight the war, they do respect and support U.S. soldiers participating in it.
Lou Plummer, an army veteran and father of a current Navy sailor, spoke last month on the UW campus against the war, but highlighted the concern civilians feel for their armed forces.
“[Our troops in Iraq] are people that a few years ago were worrying about algebra tests and prom,” Plummer said. “Now they are worrying about whether or not they should shoot at the car coming toward them.”
On Oct. 26, 19-year-old Rachel Bosveld was killed in action during battle in Baghdad. Bosveld was the first woman soldier and the fifth Wisconsin soldier to die in the war against Iraq.
The 132nd Army National Guard Band Brass Quintet will play in front of the Memorial Union at 4 p.m. and guest speakers include Army National Guard Specialist Clarissa Pearson, retired U.S. Army Colonel Fred McCormick, and Wisconsin Veterans Museum Director Richard Zeitlin. UW Army ROTC will also hold a half-hour ceremony at the Wisconsin Historical Society at 3:30 p.m.
