The Chronicles Of Grant County
Veterans Day
2025
The image was provided courtesy of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, 2025.
Today is Veterans Day.
"Veterans Day is the day set aside to thank and honor ALL those who served honorably in the military – in wartime or peacetime," according to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. "In fact, Veterans Day is largely intended to thank LIVING veterans for their service, to acknowledge that their contributions to our national security are appreciated, and to underscore the fact that all those who served – not only those who died – have sacrificed and done their duty."
According to the Federal government, as of September 30, 2025, there were an estimated 424 military veterans in Catron County, 2,185 military veterans in Grant County, 267 military veterans in Hidalgo County, and 1,414 military veterans in Luna County.
Veterans Day as a formal holiday dates back to 1919.
Initially, the name of the holiday was "Armistice Day" in recognition of the Armistice that ended the "Great War" (what we today call "World War One") in 1918. The Armistice went into effect at 11 AM on November 11, 1918 – the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month – local time on that date in Paris, France.
The formal naming of the holiday as "Armistice Day" did not occur until 1926.
In a front-page news article on June 5, 1926, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that on June 4, 1926, "A [United States] Senate resolution calling on the President to declare Armistice Day a day of prayer and thanksgiving was passed today by the [United States] House [of Representatives]." The U S Senate resolution had been passed previously on May 25, 1926.
On November 3, 1926, President Calvin Coolidge issued a formal proclamation in which he invited "…the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies expressive of our gratitude for peace and our desire for the continuance of friendly relations with all other peoples."
Armistice Day did not officially become a national holiday until 1938.
The edition dated May 14, 1938, of the Bartlesville Enterprise included a news article that confirmed President Franklin Roosevelt signed legislation passed by the United States Congress, "...making Armistice Day a national legal holiday." As of that date, according to the newspaper, 44 states had already declared Armistice Day a legal holiday, "...and in three others, the governors had power to proclaim it."
Sixteen years later – after the end of World War Two, the beginning of the Cold War, and the conflict in Korea – both houses of the U S Congress passed a concurrent resolution on May 13, 1938, as well as legislation on June 1, 1954, to change the name of the holiday from "Armistice Day" to "Veterans Day." President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the legislation into law on June 1, 1954.
On October 8, 1954, President Eisenhower issued a proclamation formally calling "...upon all of our citizens to observe Thursday, November 11, 1954, as Veterans Day. On that day let us solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly, on the seas, in the air, and on foreign shores, to preserve our heritage of freedom, and let us reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain. I also direct the appropriate officials of the Government to arrange for the display of the flag of the United States on all public buildings on Veterans Day."
A change in the date Veterans Day was to occur took place in 1968.
"A law passed in 1968 changed the national commemoration of Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October," according to a statement from the U S Department of Veterans Affairs. Due to this law, Veterans Day was observed on the fourth Monday in October from 1971 to 1977.
"It soon became apparent, however, that November 11 was a date of historic significance to many Americans," the statement from the U S Department of Veterans Affairs continued. "Therefore, in 1978, Congress returned the observance to its traditional date."
According to the 2025 Teachers Resource Guide issued by the U S Department of Veterans Affairs, "On October 7, 2016, President [Barack] Obama signed the Veterans Day Moment of Silence Act. The law requires that the President issue a proclamation calling on the people of the United States to observe a two-minute national moment of silence on Veterans Day at 3:11 PM Atlantic standard time, 2:11 PM Eastern standard time, 1:11 PM Central standard time, 12:11 PM Mountain standard time, 11:11 AM Pacific standard time, 10:11 AM Alaska standard time, and 9:11 AM Hawaii-Aleutian standard time."
As we honor our military veterans today, let us reflect on two of the people who were among the initial leaders who advocated recognition of those who have served our country.
Woodrow Wilson, the then-President of the United States of America, issued a proclamation in 1919 that noted "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 nations."
President Wilson was a Democrat.
Octaviano Ambrosio Larrazolo, the then-Governor of New Mexico, issued a proclamation in 1919 to remember the sacrifices of the veterans of the Great War.
In a speech on November 11, 1919, in East Las Vegas, New Mexico, according to a news article in the Albuquerque Morning Journal on November 12, 1919, "Governor Larrazolo gave a splendid address of appreciation of the work of the American soldiers in the war and said that none better than they now are qualified to protect at home as they had abroad the ideals and institutions of the nation."
Governor Larrazolo was a Republican.
In 1919, a Democratic President and a Republican Governor both recognized the debt we as a nation owe to the military veterans who have worn the uniform of our country.
Today, on this Veterans Day, please take a moment to remember the men and women who have served our country in uniform through the years.
Please thank each of the estimated 4,290 military veterans in Catron, Grant, Hidalgo, and Luna Counties.
Please also reflect on the men and women who are currently serving the United States of America in places from Qatar and Poland to South Korea and in the Caribbean Sea.
We thank you all for your service in our name.
Do you have questions about communities in Grant County?
A street name? A building?
Your questions may be used in a future news column.
Contact Richard McDonough at
If your email does not go through, please contact
© 2025 Richard McDonough
