Happy Veterans Day..November 11, 2009

How Did Veterans Day Come About?

We all celebrate Veterans Day, but do we all know exactly how it came to be known as Veterans Day? Many people confuse Memorial Day with Veterans Day. To help us all, I brushed up on my knowledge so that I could give you a summary of how it all came about. I'll do my best explaining what I read in several articles in a short concise way.

Veterans Day is a day to honor all veterans. living or dead. This can be those who are serving or who have served. One might ask why is this different than Memorial Day? Memorial Day was set aside to honor those veterans who died in their service to the country or primarily those who died in war.

Veterans Day came into existence when President Woodrow Wilson declared November 11 a day to honor veterans, although at that time, the day was called Armistice Day. In 1938, this was made a national holiday by congress. The date of November 11 was used as this was the date the Allied Powers signed the cease-fire agreement with Germany to end World War I. The parades on this day typically begin at 11:11 am as the cease-fire agreement was signed on the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month in 1918 after 4 years at war. In 1954, Dwight Eisenhower signed a proclamation to honor all veterans who have protected our freedoms in all wars and to call this day Veterans Day. I have seen this day referred to as Veteran's Day with an apostrophe as well as Veterans Day. I'm not sure which is correct.

But we should all be sincerely thankful for the many veterans who have protected our freedom. Fly your flag and take a moment in the eleventh hour of this day to thank all veterans and say a prayer for those in harm's way.

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Greenview Veterans.

In preparation of the Sesquicentennial of our town in 2007, I attempted to gather information from the AMVETS, the Athens Library, the Menard County Clerk and other souces to document Greenview residents who had served in the Armed Services. There are many many names on that list but I'm sure the list is not complete. I hated that, but there just wasn't any complete list which existed, even at the AMVETS. I'm going to retype some of the later years' list for your reading pleasure on this blog. The entire list, going back to the 1900's is rather long so I'm not able to completely reproduce it here. In order to honor all that have died, I am going to list those who died from the older files as well as the newer files.

In Memory of Those Who Died:

Lawrence Rayburn; Carl Hildebrand; Harry Hildebrand, Earl Baker; William Homer Clemens; Forrest Lee O'Brien; Harold Lemme; Arthur Glenn Williams; Henry Janssen; Richard Fulton; William Eugene Settles; Ben Raikes; Robert Short; Jack Short; Jack Allen; Benny Conn; Robert Coffey; Arthur Lee Yost; Robert Sutton.

The Following Is A List of Residents Who Served in the Armed Forces From The Greenview Scrap Book, Under the Title of Honor Book (I found some more people who were not on any list so I will list in another paragraph and I also feel some women were erroneously omitted from this list): Donald Wade Riley; Robert Brunsman; Forrest Lee O'Brien (died in a submarine sinking); James William Willis; Russel Wayne Altig; Freddie Leo Barnett; Loren Barnett; Robert Hawkins; James Hornback; Ben Raikes (killed in action); Maurice Vincent; Joe Waldron; Earl "Mitch" Baker (killed in Normandy); Robert Coffey (killed when jeep hit a shell hole);

Earl Eaton; James Finck; Thomas Hartley; Lawrence James; Don Montgomery;

Joseph Pisoni; Jack Riley; Albert Setzer; Harry Wohler, Jr.; Kenneth Stone; Jack Allen (killed in action); John Behrens; Dorothy Bradley; Lane Bradley; Jean Coffey, Robert Conkling; John Dennis; Edgar Eldridge; Whitney Eldridge; John Estill; Walter Graham; Calvin Hall; Russ Hinrichs; George Hughes; Kenneth Hughes; Vernon James; James Johnson; Dale Hodgins; Robert Howell; Howard Hudspeth; Eugene Kenney; Gerald Meehan; John Meehan; J. D. Meers; John Olson; Howard Painter; Cecil Ratliff; Glenn Rogers; Robert sutton (missing in action then declared killed in action); Arthur Glenn Williams (killed in plane crash); Russell Yocom; Larence "Bud" Barnett; Clarence Beard; W.A. Beard; Phil bradley; Arthur Claypool; Glenn Clemens; Wayne Clemens; Bennie Conn; Roy Cramer; Eloise Ennis; Richard Fulton (killed when Birmingham ship was bombed); Robert Gaddie; George "Bud" Godbey; Carrol Hartley; Henry Janssen (killed in action); John Lash; Harold Lemme (died of a cancer tumor in the lungs while serving); William Looby; James McAtee, Jr; Leo Miller; Phil Montgomery; William Richard Ratliff; Robert Rowe; John Sachtleben, Jr; Frances Wardean Setzer; Robert Short (lost at sea); Elmer Simmering; Bryce Smith; Bob Spaulding; Bob Tice; Evert Tice; Gerald Wright; Arthur Yost (killed during aerial attack on his ship near Okinawa); James "Perry" Altig; Neal Chambers; Edwin Davison; Kenneth Davison; Charles DeHart; Thurlow Gaddie; Ronald Horn; Henry "Hank" Kaiser; Donald Lockhart; Eugene McAtee; Norma Jean Stone Roberts; Kenneth Sampson; William Settles (killed in France); James Stone; John Tomlin; HOmoer Tripp; Barry Woodrum; Vernon Wetter; Percy Carter; Lee Cutright; Kenneth Deckard; George Deverman; Cecil Lynn Edwards; Sophia Eldridge; Bob Estill; Homer Horn; Robert Preston; Robert Simmering; John Struwe; Dopnald Dean Weidhuner; Robert Rich Davison; Frank Bless; Thomas Johnson; Delbert Dale Tobias; Homer Franklin Austill; Larry O'Brien; Floyd Spaulding; C. Richmond Thayer; John Cooper; Alvin Davis; Charles Deckard; Henry LeRoy Deckard; Billy Ross Edwards; James Kincaid; Vincent Looby; Bobbie O'Brien; Allen Snedigar; Kenneth Spear; Donald Taylor; David Wagoner; George Brunsman; Ira Davis; Leo Davis; Arthur Eldridge; Jerry Hudspeth; Leo Davis; Arthur Eldridge; Jerry Husdpeth; Kenneth McDougall; Frank Simmering; Paul Stone; Walter Gerald Davison; Gerald Denton; Paul Findley; Dale Goodin; Bryon Claypool; Harold Rankin; George Wiemer; Herman Boeckmann; Jay Kackson; Donald Wood ; Leslie Davis; Ernest Duncan; John Starr; Chas. Stroemer; Stanley Carter; Cleo Davis; Donald Edwards; Gary Grimsley; Keith Propst; Pat Riley; Robert Spear; Richard VanBebber; Robert Deverman; Janet Altig; Paul Danny Davis; John Downey; Keith Lockhart; Charles Stone; Clark "U.J." Altig; Gene Davis; Terry Barnett; Don Case; Edward Hinch; William Ishmael; Harold Hughes; Warren Behrens; Glenn David Clemens; Donald Deverman; Lacy Snedigar; Kenneth Doggett; Kenneth Brunsman; Christopher Vincent; David DeHart; David Tomlin; Dennis Barnett; John Lloyd Dennis; Micah Garner; Charles Ingham; Larry Barnett; Stephen Bradley; Charles DeHart; Darrell Enloe; James Hill; Roger Hinrichs; Roger Horn; Arthur "Pete" Nance; Chester "Gale" Patrick; Dennis Setzer; James Michael Willis; Buddy Boston; Howard "Butch" Nance; Robert Painter; Thomas Parks; Richard Setzer; Norman Smith; Bob Spear; Richard Woodrum; Gary Cramer; Phillip Deverman; James Eaton; Allan Heyen; Larry Wetter; Harold Baugher, Jr.; Joseph Clemens; Roger Hill; John Williams, Kent Bradley; Michael Joseph Meehan; Dennis Samuel Willis; Robert Deckard; Dennis Horn; Michael Preston; Howard Painter; Tom Tice; Steven Lockwood.

The following is a list of names which I couldn't find on any of these older lists: Bob Boeckman; James Todd; Ronald Dale Moore; Loren Baxley; Bob Ellis; Corbie Lowery; Harold Hartley.

In 2007 the following are names which were given to me by the AMVETs of persons who were recently discharged or currently serving at that time: John Eric Holt; Jason Lynch; Jessie Stuart, David Snedigar; Justin Willis; Denver Willis; Colin Killebrew; Timothy Clemens; Mark Steinhour; Scott Tisdale; Lawrence Antone Tibbs; Douglas Thayer; Jason Fletcher; Warren Swaar; Howard Mitchell Nance; Bradley Janssen.

In 2007, the Amvets also helped me compile this list of persons serving in the Desert Storm Era: Randall Barbee; Vincent Bauser; Donald Beadle; Paul Beadle; Patrick Biggs; Kenneth Callahan; Scott Callahn; David Church; David Clemens; Lonnie Clemens; Michael Coonrod; David Crenshaw; Rob De Croix; Sean Donahue; Andrew Finn; Roger Holford; Kelly Schmidt Hughes; Todd Juhl; Randy Kenoyer; Scott Kilby; Jay Nance; Gregory Orum; Christian Payne; Robert Ratliff; Robert Rolleri; Alan Setzter; Kirk Skaar; Troy Smith; Lacy Snedigar; Bruce Tibbs; Eric Tibbs; James Turner; Ray Van Cleave; Marshall Wiant.

I salute these veterans who have protected my/our freedom.

If your name has been omitted, please put your name in the comments section so that I can add it to the book I compiled for display during the sesquicentennial. Prior to this time Greenview just didn't have a comprehensive list. If anyone wants to look at the book to find veterans from the early 1900's, please let me know. I included copies of their photos from information I found at the Athens Library during my research in 2007.

Dear Lord, Bless and Keep

Our Soldiers Safe. Amen

Have a good day.