Progress staff reports
Veterans Day is Wednesday, and in observation of this holiday to honor veterans of all U.S. wars, several government entities in Cherokee County will close for the day.
Because Veterans Day is a federal holiday, the U.S. Postal Service offices will be closed that day, and mail delivery will be suspended for the day, and banks will be closed for the day.
The Cherokee County Courthouse and all offices within will be closed for the day, and they will reopen Thursday for a regular business day.
The Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce will be closed that day, as will Rusk City Hall and the Rusk Chamber of Commerce.
The Rusk VFW Post No. 3406 will hold a Veterans Day service at the Veterans Memorial on the courthouse lawn in Rusk. The 11 a.m. service is open to the public, and an open house at the VFW hall will follow.
Jacksonville’s West Side Elementary School will have a 9 a.m. and a 6 p.m. Veterans Day program on Tuesday, and the Jacksonville VFW Post No. 3984 will present programs at both Bonner Place Nursing Home on Wednesday and Oaks Nursing Home on Thursday.
Armistice Day was first declared a holiday by President Woodrow Wilson in 1919 — one year after the close of World War I — in order to celebrate a victory in the “war to end all wars,” according to www.theholidayzone.com.
“Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I,” according to the Department of Veteran Affairs’ Web site, but in 1954, after World War II ... after American forces had fought aggression in Korea,” the 83rd Congress changed the holiday’s name.
On June 1, 1954, the holiday became a day to honor American veterans of all wars, the site states.
Customarily, the holiday is celebrated at 11 a.m. with a “Present Arms” at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery, Washington, D.C., by a combined color guard representing all military services.
