Originally commemorating the end of the “war to end all wars,” Armistice Day was commemorated by World War I veterans and citizens of that era who recalled the impact of the ceasefire on the 11th month, the 11th day, and the 11th hour in 1918. A total of 10 million were killed in action, and another 20 million were wounded worldwide. The U.S. had only joined the conflict in 1917, but it alone had lost more than 116,000 lives and 320,000 other casualties. Those losses were bitterly felt, especially among those whose loved ones had been buried in over 2,300 temporary cemeteries on European soil. In 1938, November 11 was designated Armistice Day nationwide by act of Congress, which said that the day should be “dedicated to the cause of world peace.”
According to National Geographic, in 1953, Alvin J. King, an Emporia, Kansas, cobbler who had lost a nephew during World War II, petitioned the city to rename the holiday to honor all who had served. That year, the city celebrated “Veterans Day” on November 11 instead.
Emporia’s U.S. congressman, Edward H. Rees, took up the cause and proposed a federal name change. “Armistice Day unfortunately is not being observed the way it ought to be observed,” Rees said during a Congressional hearing on the matter. The holiday would “give recognition to the fact that before and since World War I, millions of United States men have fought and died under the flag of the United States in the furtherance of world peace.”
Congress agreed, and the name change became official in 1954.
