On Monday Disneyland honored veterans and also Cast Members who are veterans during a very special patriotic flag retreat ceremony. This patriotic ceremony honored those who have served the United States of America. The event was heavily attended and recognized veterans for their service. Cast Members who were veterans were given a place of honor on the steps of the Main Street Train Station.
Veterans Day was originally known as Armistice Day. It is celebrated on November 11th and honors those who have served in the United States Armed Forces. The date is celebrated by other countries as well for the ending of World War I when hostilities formally ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. In 1954, the name was changed from Armistice Day to Veterans Day at the urging of veterans groups.
The first Armistice Day was in 1919. President Woodrow Wilson issued the following statement on the day:
ADDRESS TO FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN
The White House, November 11, 1919.
A year ago today our enemies laid down their arms in accordance with an armistice which rendered them impotent to renew hostilities, and gave to the world an assured opportunity to reconstruct its shattered order and to work out in peace a new and juster set of international relations. The soldiers and people of the European Allies had fought and endured for more than four years to uphold the barrier of civilization against the aggressions of armed force. We ourselves had been in the conflict something more than a year and a half.
With splendid forgetfulness of mere personal concerns, we remodeled our industries, concentrated our financial resources, increased our agricultural output, and assembled a great army, so that at the last our power was a decisive factor in the victory. We were able to bring the vast resources, material and moral, of a great and free people to the assistance of our associates in Europe who had suffered and sacrificed without limit in the cause for which we fought.
Out of this victory there arose new possibilities of political freedom and economic concert. The war showed us the strength of great nations acting together for high purposes, and the victory of arms foretells the enduring conquests which can be made in peace when nations act justly and in furtherance of the common interests of men.
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, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of nations.
WOODROW WILSON
Veterans Day is different than Memorial Day. Veterans Day focuses on those who have served in the United States Armed Forces. Memorial Day honors those who have died in the service to their country. Armed Forces Day honors those who are currently serving in the United States Armed Forces.
The Disneyland Resort honors current and former members of the United States Armed Forces during its daily Patriotic Flag Retreat at the flag pole in Town Square at the end of Main Street, USA. During the ceremony, current members of the military and veterans are invited to come forward and be honored during the Flag Retreat.
