Sheridan Veterans Affairs will host livestreaming Veteran’s Day Ceremony Nov. 11

The Sheridan Department of Veterans Affairs will host a livestreaming Veterans Day Ceremony to honor Veterans of all American conflicts.  

Due to COVID-19 concerns, the traditional gatherings that take place on Nov. 11, pose too much of a risk, but the day is too important not to honor, said Sheridan VA Public Affairs Officer, Kristina Miller during an appearance on Sheridan Media’s Public Pulse.

The Sheridan VA has partnered with the historic WYO Theater to livestream a Veterans Day Ceremony on the WYO Theater’s YouTube page.

The event will feature keynote speakers Geo Gillett and John Grote, as well as a musical performance by the Sheridan College music program and three Tongue River middle-school students will read their selected essays on the national holiday. 

Gillett is a former Military Police member and current registered nurse caring for Veterans with the VA.  

Grote is a retired member of the U.S. Army having developed emergency response teams here in the U.S. and was serving at the Pentagon during the tragic and heroic events of Sept. 11, 2001. Grote currently works at the VA helping Veterans register and learn of their benefits.   

The livestream will begin at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11, at http://bit.ly/YouTubeWYO.

In June of 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed officially ending World War I. But fighting had ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, a temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. It is for that reason, Nov. 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.” 

The 28th President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, proclaimed Nov. 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with his words: 

“To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…”

Armistice Day, as it was known, was intended to honor the veterans of WWI, but after the largest mobilization of servicemembers for World War II and after the Korean War, an act of congress removed the word Armistice and replaced it with Veterans and on June 1, 1954, Nov. 11, became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.