On the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month

November 11th is Veterans Day in the USA, but it has not always been so. Now recognized as Veterans Day, November 11th was once celebrated as Armistice Day in the allied nations. On this day at eleven o'clock, World War 1 officially ended. A year after the first Armistice Day, Winston Churchill made a speech thanking General Pershing and his fellow Americans for securing the victory. The speech, humorously titled "Farewell to 'the Beer of Old England'" reflected on the new prohibition laws, and how soldiers returning home were effected by it. However, Churchill first spoke of Armistice Day before introducing this topic. Here is an excerpt from his speech: 

"We are all delighted to see General Pershing and his gallant Americans over here. We are passing through a phase of intense rejoicing almost reaching the extremes to which human beings are capable, and the rejoicings after the great war are like everything else in that great war - on a scale and in a degree of intensity in proportion to this unique period. But all of this rejoicing there is no occasion which has given more real and genuine pleasure to those who have taken part in it than being present here today in the Guildhall and coming here to the hospitable board of the Lord Mayor to welcome General Pershing and the distinguished American General's staff, officers and other whom he has brought with him. We hope that they will carry away very pleasant memories of their all too brief visit to England."
 To learn more about Veterans Day history, watch this video:


Thanks to Mrs. Melonie Eastham for providing the video.

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