Mayor Lynn Robinson and County Supervisor Bruce McPherson
presided over a combined city/county Veteran’s Day ceremony hosted at City Hall
today. The ceremony honored all those who
have stood watch over our great nation, and especially those who continued their
commitment to public service by working for the city or county in addition to
their military service.
The Santa Cruz Police Department and Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s
Office Honor Guard teams participated in the ceremony.
The idea that eventually became known as Veteran’s Day
was established on November 11, 1919, the one year anniversary of the end of
World War I. The day was originally
dubbed Armistice Day, to commemorate the end of the World War I in the eleventh
hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
The event originally honored all
those who served in World War I. In 1954,
the day became “Veteran’s Day” honoring all those who served, current and
past.
After some date jockeying, the date was returned the
original November 11th date by President Gerald Ford in 1975.
According to my sources at the Defense Department, there
are approximately 23 million veterans living in the U.S. and California has one
of the highest populations of veterans with just over 2 million.
As a small demonstration of the discipline and precision
in our military, check out this Marine Silent Drill Rifle team video.
If you ever get the chance to see this live…don’t miss
it.
We honor and thank all those who have served, so that we
might enjoy the freedoms afforded us today.
