Skip to content
Chugley's Chatter
  • Blog
  • Search Icon

Chugley's Chatter

a blog by 'Chugley' the Thinking Chimpanzee.

REMEMBRANCE DAY ARTICLE

REMEMBRANCE DAY ARTICLE

November 12, 2024

Hello Everyone … I want to thank Activist Post for re-posting my column that was run in the Veterans Day issue of the Orlando Sentinel on 11 November 2014. The message and lesson still apply. I would appreciate it if you would please post this to your respective websites and pages and share with your respective email lists. Also, please make sure to visit the Activist Post website at www.activistpost.com and subscribe. You’ll be glad that you did. Thank you and, Peace Everybody! … Phil R. (Phil in Florida)

When the ‘voice of God’ was heard: My Word

By Philip C. Restino, Jr.

November 11, 2024

World War I, the “war to end all wars,” ended when the armistice between the Allied Nations and Germany was signed on Nov. 11, 1918. On May 13, 1938, the U.S. Congress made Nov. 11 a legal holiday: “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day.’”

However, on June 1, 1954, Congress changed the name Armistice Day to Veterans Day, as new U.S. military interventions began to increase around the world.

American novelist and World War II veteran Kurt Vonnegut wrote about his war experiences and his time as an American prisoner of war surviving the horrific fire-bombing of the German city of Dresden in his famous novel Slaughterhouse-Five. Years later, Vonnegut reflected on the U.S. government’s changing the official recognition of Nov. 11th from Armistice Day to Veterans Day in the following way:

“When I was a boy, all the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month. It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another.

“I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God. So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind. Armistice Day has become Veterans’ Day. Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans’ Day is not. So I will throw Veterans’ Day over my shoulder. Armistice Day I will keep. I don’t want to throw away any sacred things.”

This substitution politicized the day by changing the focus from peace to war in its celebrating and honoring military veterans and the wars they served in. Sadly, it’s too often political rhetoric and patriotic symbols are used to thank our veterans rather than genuine compensation and care for their sacrifices and service.

Let us reconsider the original intent of the Nov. 11 remembrance, where a solemn silence and ringing of church bells in nations around the world recognized the pledge for peace agreed to on that morning in November 1918, when the “voice of God” was heard.

Philip C. Restino Jr. is a founding member and served as co-chair of the Central Florida chapter of Veterans For Peace from 2005 to 2016.

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related


REMEMBERANCE DAY

Post navigation

PREVIOUS
THE SOVEREIGN WILL OF GOD
NEXT
HEADS UP MR PRESIDENT – THERE ARE SABOTEURS ALL AROUND YOU! Part One
Comments are closed.

Please help Chugley buy some bananas

Enter amount (AUD)

Subscribe to my Blog

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Categories

Recent Comments

  • Concerned Sydneysider on QATARI FUNDING OF “CHOICES PROGRAMME” IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS
  • Chugley Chimp on DNA repair mechanisms ‘shout’ creation
  • Paul on DNA repair mechanisms ‘shout’ creation
  • Concerned Sydneysider on EMMANUEL CULTS STUDY
  • Chugley Chimp on EUROPE HAS SUCCUMBED TO MUSLIM INVADERS
  • Paul on EUROPE HAS SUCCUMBED TO MUSLIM INVADERS
  • Concerned Sydneysider on THE STONES BEEN ROLLED AWAY
  • Chugley Chimp on Vote above the line and elect a Greens senator without even trying
  • Paul on Vote above the line and elect a Greens senator without even trying
  • Paul on HEAR O ISRAEL – HOW DO I HATE THEE?
  • Chugley Chimp on ENGLAND IS BEING CONQUERED
  • Paul on ENGLAND IS BEING CONQUERED

Blog Stats

  • 57,149 hits

Top Posts

  • THE GROWING MENACE OF TREES
  • PAUL WILKINSON
© 2025   All Rights Reserved.
%d