Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge For those who are old enough to remember

Happy Armistice day. All the terms had been agreed on in early October and the 'Great War' could have ended then, but the French felt that the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month would be more dramatic so they insisted that the fighting go on for no good reason.
I'm not sure why they decided to change the name of this day instead of using D day, VE day or VJ day to honor those who have given of their lives to defend the world from the bad guy. Even those who served in relatively peaceful times have made a sacrifice to keep evil at bay. No, it wasn't for the money, that is for sure. When I was in Germany ready to stop the commy hoards from pouring across the iron curtain and rebuilding trucks to be sent to some small country nobody ever heard of in the far east, I was getting a place to (try to) sleep, all I could stand to eat and a whopping $109.90 a month. we did get to go camping out a lot though, being a STRAC (Army equivalent to SAC) outfit, we had random practice alerts at least once a month. The only ones who knew for certain that they were practice were the demolition crew who would set out blocks of wood instead of TNT in the buildings.

hi first post here.

Sorry to disagree with you but the terms were not agreed in early October. Negotiations began in early October 1918 but Britain and France objected to some of Wilson's terms, as did the Kaiser having to abdicate.

The Armistice was formally signed at 5am on november 11th, but the French wanted a furhter 6 hours in which to inform all their troops, hence the ceasefire taking place from 11am. It was not done for dramatic effect.

what did you guys used to call this day? It has always been Armsitice Day in the UK.

It has been armistice day in the US since the signing of the treaty. In 1954 a bill was signed replacing the word armistice with the verteran's in order to commemorate and remember all the troops that have sacrificed in the name of their country. Essentially they are one and the same.

Yep! And I think the reason for the change over here was because by 1954 even the U.S. Congress finally recognized that using the term "Armistice Day" to delineate the end of "The World To End All Wars" might have been "just a little dated" by that time...ESPECIALLY after A SECOND ONE!!!

But, you know our Congress! They can be a little slow on the ol' uptake sometimes.

And so, Martin...what's PARLIMENTS excuse for never changin' the name of it over there, dude???

(BTW...to all our veterans out there...THANK YOU for your service to our country!!!)

Well Dwight, Armistice Day is November 11th - no changing that, so our beloved leaders kept the name the same.

We also have Remembrance Day, or Remembrance Sunday, which is the 2nd Sunday in November. This is when all War Dead are remembered, with laying of wreaths at the Cenotaph by the Queen and rest of the Royal Family. Massed Bands play and parade. Veterans parade and march. So we "celebrate" the 2 dates.

ps....we don't need no excuses!!

I saw some of the commemoration yesterday in Whitehall on the news.

They had the 3 last British servicemen from WW1 there. I think the last French survivor died last year.

Do any other countries have any WW1 survivors left?

There is an Australian veteran of the War for Civilisation.

Here's a link to a CNN article on the last US survivor who served in the US military. http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/07/war.veteran/index.html#cnnSTCText
I rode my Triumph America to the Escondido Veterans Memorial event with the American Legion Riders. As usual, I had the only Triumph there.