Restore Armistice Day its original purpose: world peace (Your letters)

World War I Christmas Truce

In this photo taken from an image in the collection at In Flanders Fields Museum, provided by the family of German soldier Kurt Zehmisch, a German World War I soldier of the 103rd Saxon Regiment wears the hat of a British soldier as he sits in a trench with other German soldiers in Warneton, Belgium, during December 1914. Hands reached out across the divide and in Belgium's Flanders Fields in a spontaneous Christmas truce. (Virginia Mayo | AP)AP

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To the Editor:

On behalf of Chapter 51 of Veterans for Peace and the Beyond War and Militarism Committee, I invite you to join in our effort to restore Armistice Day to its original purpose. Over 100 years ago, the world celebrated peace as a universal principle. Armistice Day, which took effect at the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” of 1918, was designated as “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated."

However, after World War II the U.S. Congress renamed Nov. 11 as Veterans Day and the annual dedication to world peace morphed into honoring the military and glorifying war. Armistice Day changed from a day for peace into a day for displays of militarism.

This Armistice Day, Nov. 11, we call upon you to gather with us at the steps of City Hall in Syracuse, 233 E. Washington St. We will hold a vigil from 10:30 to 11 a.m., and at 11 a.m. we will listen to the bells of our city ring out in remembrance of the joy and celebration of peace. We will gather in this solemn manner to continue our work for an end to all wars. Please join us and, if your place of worship is so equipped, please arrange to ring the bells at 11 a.m. Thank you.

Ronald L. VanNorstrand

Syracuse

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