NEW YORK – Americans marked Veterans Day on Tuesday with parades, speeches and military discounts, while in Europe the holiday known as Armistice Day held special meaning in the centennial year of the start of World War I.
Thousands of veterans and their supporters marched up Fifth Avenue in New York, home to the nation’s oldest Veterans Day parade.
At 11 a.m. – the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month – a solemn hush fell over Manhattan’s Madison Square Park as veterans laid wreaths under the Eternal Light Monument to honor the fallen.
Former New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who was a Marine lieutenant, served as grand marshal.
“I learned everything I know about leadership from my military service,” Kelly said.
The parade featured a float carrying rapper Ice-T, who is an Army veteran, plus six military dogs and their handlers, all of whom have served in the U.S. armed forces.
Maylee Borg, 40, of Staten Island, said she brought her two daughters to show them “that we should support our veterans, because they supported us.”
Her 13-year-old daughter, Kaitlyn Borg, made a sign that read, “Land of the free, thanks to the brave.”
Here is how the holiday was celebrated elsewhere around the country and overseas.
Armistice Day
Europe marked Armistice Day with ceremonies and moments of silence as France opened an international memorial on a former battlefield. The events had special significance because this year is the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I. Tuesday was the 96th anniversary of the armistice that ended the war on Nov. 11, 1918.
Celebrity concert
Bruce Springsteen, Rihanna, Eminem and Metallica were among the headliners for a free concert on the National Mall to raise awareness for issues affecting veterans, In Washington, D.C.
Tuesday’s first-of-its-kind Concert for Valor is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of fans to the Mall. The Veterans Day event was spearheaded by Starbucks president Howard Schultz.
Veteran bonuses
State officials in Ohio used the holiday to remind Iraq war veterans that time is running out to claim bonuses of up to $1,500. Ohio voters in 2009 approved a $200 million bond issue to fund bonuses for veterans of the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq war eras.
Veterans perks and freebies
Veterans Day is not only a time to honor those who have served in the military. For American businesses, it’s also a time to back up that appreciation with a freebie.
Many national chains, as well as mom-and-pop retailers around the U.S., offered free goods and services to anyone who has served in the military, a trend that has been growing since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Military gay pride
Massachusetts marked Veterans Day with commemorations around the state including a parade in Boston in which gay and transgender veterans were taking part for the first time.
A recently formed group called OutVets said it expected up to 30 people to march in Tuesday afternoon’s downtown parade.
Gov. Deval Patrick and other top officials gathered earlier at the Statehouse to express “gratitude, pride and support” for service members from Massachusetts.
Christie honors the fallen
In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie attended an event at the Brig. Gen. William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Wrightstown. The state-operated cemetery is the final resting place for more than 56,000 veterans and their family members.
Faculty and students in Monmouth University in West Long Branch were reading the names of troops killed during deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq since the September 2001 terrorist attacks.
Civil War Trust expands mission to save other early American battlefields
WASHINGTON – The country’s largest Civil War battlefield protection group, the Civil War Trust, announced Tuesday that it is enlarging its mission to also preserve the battlefields of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.
For the country’s premier Civil War preservation organization to tie itself to two other wars may mystify some preservationists, but Jim Lighthizer, president of the trust, said a strong and logical connection can be made between the three wars.
“The Revolutionary War created this country, and the War of 1812 affirmed that creation,” he said Monday. “The Civil War defined who we are.”
The announcement was made on Veterans Day at the Princeton Battle Monument in New Jersey, which commemorates the fierce 1777 clash that gave Gen. George Washington his first victory over British troops on the field.
Lighthizer said the new initiative won’t interfere with Civil War preservation work because there are, in comparison with Civil War battlefields, many fewer Revolutionary War and War of 1812 sites to save.
“We were fishing in an ocean,” he said. “Now we are fishing in a lake. Another way to look at it is, the universe of Civil War battlefields is 200,000 to 250,000 acres. For the other two wars combined, there are only 10,000 to 15,000 acres. This is not a daunting challenge.”
Over 27 years, the trust has preserved more than 40,000 acres of Civil War land, including large parcels at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and many sites in Virginia. Funds come from the National Park Service, state governments, individual donors and members.
Lighthizer said the first Revolutionary War battlefield preservation project will be a four-acre parcel adjacent to the Princeton battlefield and owned by a family.
He called it a $1 million deal and said the trust will partner with state and federal agencies to finance it.
However, Lighthizer said, the process of identifying battlefield land for the two earlier wars is quite different from doing so for the Civil War, in which numerous battle reports were filed each day. Battlefields were identified in the earlier wars only by a landmark or town.
Lighthizer said the trust expects to be doing much more archaeological work to establish what is and is not part of a battlefield.
“This is exciting,” he said. “This is a huge deal. It takes preservation to another level, and it will make the trust the organization in the U.S. in terms of saving military battlefields.”
