Veteran's Day celebration at DeFuniak Springs on Tuesday

The City of DeFuniak Springs is hosting their third-annual Veteran's Day Ceremony Nov. 11, at 10:15 a.m., at Magnolia Cemetery. Walton High School's ROTC will perform honor guard, a flag folding ceremony and a rendition of taps will be played. There will also be a flyby from Eglin AFB, with four F-15 jets, according to Lt. Col. Alan Gardner, ROTC teacher at Walton High School.

The event is sponsored in coordination with the American Veterans, the Disabled American Veterans, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Walton County Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Committee.

The celebration is to honor the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the country's freedom.

Due to the observance of Veteran's Day on Tuesday, county offices will be closed, including schools and their personnel, and offices for the City of DeFuniak Springs and Freeport.

However, the landfill will remain open and garbage pick up will continue as scheduled, according to Solid Waste Manager Rusty Floyd.

Banks will also close in observance of the holiday.

A Brief history of Veteran's Day:

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed Armistice Day for Nov. 11, 1919. The United States Congress passed a concurrent resolution seven years later on June 4, 1926, requesting the President issue another proclamation to observe Nov. 11 with appropriate ceremonies. An act approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday; "a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day'. In 1953, Al King had the idea to celebrate all veterans, not just those who served in World War I. So he began his campaign to turn Armistice Day into "All" Veterans Day. King was an Emporia shoe store owner actively involved with the American War Dads during World War II. King had promoted his notion so much that the Emporia Chamber of Commerce decided to get involved. With the help of then-U.S. Rep. Ed Rees, also from Emporia, a bill for the holiday was pushed through Congress. President Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law on May 26, 1954.

Congress amended this act on Nov. 8, 1954, by replacing "Armistice" with Veterans and it has been known as Veterans Day since.

Veteran comes from originally meaning a person of long experience or skill. Derived from the latin term veteranus, after the American Revolution the word veteran came to be associated specifically with former soldier of old age who had fought for independence. As time went on veteran was used to describe any former member of the armed forces or a person who had served in the military.

Source: Wikipedia