BOHICA's blog
Armistice Day Commemoration
It was agreed in 1918 that the Great War, the First World War,
the world’s first taste of a war on the scale of millions dead
would mercifully end on the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
Traditionally, two minutes of silence are observed at this eleventh minute.
Armistice Day was designated as a holiday to celebrate this great peace.
In 1938 Congress proclaimed; “…it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations; and…inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples.”
After the Second World War in the United States, Armistice Day was replaced with Veteran’s Day
On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month
Please join with members of Veterans For Peace Chapetr 72 and many other members of the Portland peace community and observe this day of peace.
Location: Pioneer Courthouse Square
Time: Gather at 11AM
Armistice Day
On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month
All Oregonians are welcome and encouraged to join in a gathering for
Peace with Veterans for Peace chapter 72, Tuesday, November 11th, at
the South Park Blocks between SW Columbia and Jefferson in Portland, at
the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, to share
in stories, observations, and solemn observance to honor sacrifices of
the World's veterans and the innocent victims of war by embracing the
goal of Peace for all the Peoples of the World.
In the center of
the block between Columbia and Jefferson is a very different sculpture,
also installed in 1984. In Peace Chant, comprised of three large
granite pillars, Steve Gillman wished to express his own advocacy for
peace as well as that of the nearby churches. In May 1985 the Portland
City Council named this block Peace Plaza
The United States Congress officially recognized the end of World
War I when it passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926, with
these words:
...Whereas it is fitting that the recurring
anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and
prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and
mutual understanding between nations...
An Act (52 Stat.
351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) 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."
Date: Tuesday, November 11
Time: 11:00 AM
Place: The Peace Plaza at the South Park blocks, between SW Columbia and Jefferson