Hope's Corner: A day of remembrance

Today, November 11, is Veterans Day. We have been celebrating it in the United States for nearly 100 years. In the beginning, it was not a day set aside to honor veterans. It was the day the Allied Powers of the Entente signed an armistice with Germany and the Central Powers to end World War I. Of course, it was not called World War I until World War II came around. Back in 1918 it was just called The Great War. On November 11, 1918, at 5:00 in the morning the armistice was signed in a railroad car in the Rethondes Clearing of the Compiegne Forest in France. The fighting officially ended later that morning, at 11:00. And at that time, nobody knew for certain if the hostilities were over. In fact, the Treaty of Versailles, which officially ended the war, was not signed until June 28, 1919, and it did not take effect until January 10, 1920. But when November of 1919 rolled around, President Woodrow Wilson declared the 11th to be Armistice Day, to commemorate the end of fig