Eleventh Hour | Eleventh Day | Eleventh Month
1st Sgt. William McGraw, left, and two friends, somewhere in France, 1945. "Sarge" was father to reporter Mike McGraw, who would inherit the wartime letters between his parents. (Credit: McGraw family)
Published November 11th, 2015 at 7:55 AM
The history of the day, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs:
In November 1919, “Armistice Day” was proclaimed by President Wilson as a day for businesses and citizens to “briefly” pause at 11am on November 11, as moment to remember the temporary cease-fire between the Allied nations and Germany during WWI.
The next great war came, as did other conflicts, and after several iterations of the holiday – including moving it to October and back – Veterans Day came to its permanent resting place in 1978.
A Personal History:
In October, Flatland reporter Mike McGraw wrote an intimate portrait on the letters written between his parents while his father was stationed overseas. Trace First Sgt. William A. McGraw’s journey from Fort Leavenworth Kansas, to the European front, and back again with this interactive map. Read the full story here.
StoryMap credit: Bridgit Bowden and Mike McGraw
From this research, McGraw became involved in Kansas City’s The Telling Project, which aired in part on KCPT Tuesday evening.
The stream below follows all #VeteransDay posts on Twitter:
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