Honoring Veterans Day By Col. Leslie L. Megyeri
Veterans Day is a time for us to pay our respects to those who have served our nation. The holiday started as a day to reflect upon the heroism of those who died in our country’s service. It was originally called Armistice Day and fell on Nov. 11 because that is the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. However, in 1954, the holiday was changed to “Veterans Day” in order to account for all veterans of all wars. Each year, I commemorate Veterans Day at a different veterans’ cemetery. I have written about my previous visits for Lifestyles. Last year, I went to the Sarasota National Cemetery, and the previous year, I went to Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, DC. This year, I will visit the Gettysburg National Cemetery in Gettysburg, PA, which was created for Union casualties from the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War, fought between July 1 and 3, 1863, and which resulted in the largest number of casualties of any Civil War battle. It was also considered the war’s turning point, leading ultimately to Union victory. Originally called Soldiers’ National Cemetery, the 16th U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address at the cemetery’s consecration on Nov. 19, 1863. That day is observed annually in town and at the cemetery with a parade, procession and memorial ceremonies by thousands of Civil War re-enactors, both of the Union Army and the Confederate States
Army. The cemetery contains 3,512 interments, including the graves of 979 unknown soldiers and the remains of American soldiers and dependents from the Civil War to the Vietnam War. Monuments, memorials and markers are scattered throughout and its stone walls, iron fences and gates, brick sidewalks and section markers make this the most visited site in the area. The centerpiece is the Soldiers’ National Monument, a 60-foot-tall granite shrine surrounded by a concentric semicircle of graves. President Dwight Eisenhower was a dignitary in the Remembrance Day activities at the cemetery in 1963, and his retirement home is adjacent to the battlefield. You may wonder why I visit a different national cemetery each Veterans’ Day. It’s because I saw firsthand too many whose remains were returned from the Vietnam War and whose service was not fully recognized. In some small way, I hope my gravesite visits will set an example for others to perhaps do the same or at least take a moment to say “thank you.” Col. Megyeri lives part-time in Venice, FL, and is a retired attorney and CPA. He recommends that if readers visit Gettysburg, they also see the newly opened World War II Museum, the Eisenhower Home and the Wills House, the home of attorney David Wills which was the center of the immense clean-up process after the Battle of Gettysburg and where plans were made for a Soldiers’ National Cemetery.
Lifestyles After 50 • November 2022 • 4
