Veterans Honored at Camp Nelson National Cemetery

NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. (WTVQ) – Veterans were honored at the Camp Nelson National Cemetery Friday morning.

Hundreds of people were in attendance to say thank you to all military members who have served or are currently serving.

The cemetery provided the following history of Veterans Day:

Veterans Day is intended to thank and honor all those who served honorably in the military, in wartime or peacetime.

World War I officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month , November 11, 1918.

In November 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11th as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory …”

A Congressional Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday , a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as “Armistice Day.”

Armistice Day had primarily been a day set aside to honor Veterans of World War I. However, following World War II and the Korean War, Veterans service organizations urged Congress to amend the Act of 1938 by striking out the word “Armistice” and inserting in its place the word “Veterans.” With the approval of new legislation in 1954 (Public Law 380), November 11th became a day to honor American Veterans of all wars.