“This particular Veterans Day marks the 100th anniversary – 100 years since World War I ended,” said David Rubinstein, chairman of the United Veterans of Port St. Lucie.
The organization will host the city’s annual Veterans Day Service on Sunday, Nov. 11, at 11 a.m. at Veterans Memorial Park, 2100 SE Veterans Memorial Parkway.
“Veterans Day commemorates the end of World War I,” Rubinstein said, “at the time known as the Great War. The assumption was this war would end all wars.”
Veterans Day services are traditionally held on the 11th day of the 11th month at the 11th hour for a historical reason. That’s when Germans and Allied nations signed the 11 November armistice that started the end of the Great War in 1918. While the armistice ended the large-scale shooting, the war wouldn’t end for another seven months, with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.
Nevertheless, the world came to establish Nov. 11 as Armistice Day, Remembrance Day and, in the United States, Veterans Day. Armistice Day remembrances started in the U.S. in 1919. President Woodrow Wilson wrote a public message urging Americans to recognize Great War veterans “with appropriate ceremonies” on Nov. 11. That would continue until shortly after World War II, when many called for expanding the remembrance to all veterans, so it was renamed to “Veterans Day.”
The Great War was one the U.S. didn’t want to enter. Indeed, Wilson ran for reelection in 1916 on a platform of continued neutrality. This was well after the 1915 sinking of the RMS Lusitania by a German U-boat that killed 128 Americans. While “Remember the Lusitania” became a famous battle cry to declare war on the German Empire, that’s not what pushed America into the war that a Yugoslav terrorist started by shooting dead Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austria-Hungary throne, in 1914.
While America was not nearly the military power it would come to be, Germany had no taste to get it into the stalemated trench warfare. After America demanded Germany end U-boat attacks on passenger ships after the sinking of the Lusitania, it did. The attacks slowly resumed after Wilson’s re-election, but that still wasn’t enough to push America to join the war.
The tipping point for Wilson to ask Congress for a declaration of war was the 1917 Zimmerman Telegraph. The note authored by Germany’s foreign minister, Author Zimmerman, directed the ambassador to Mexico to offer that nation help if it would declare war on the U.S. if the U.S. declared war on Germany. Germany held out the promise of helping Mexico retake Texas.
The British intercepted the telegram and gave it to the United States. Wilson told Congress, and Congress declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. American soldiers would be in Europe to help the British, French and others by June that year. Mexico rebuffed Germany’s proposal. Nevertheless, domestically Florida was an important state during World War I. It was close to Cuba and an important base of operations to monitor the Gulf of Mexico. It was clear Germany wanted allies in Central America.
About 42,000 Floridians went overseas to fight in Europe. Almost 1,100 Floridians died in combat during World War I, according to the Florida Department of Military Affairs. Another 48 Floridians remain missing in action. St. Lucie County lost 20 young men in the war.
Rubinstein said while seating is provided at the annual Veterans Day Service, it’s best for folks to go prepared with their own chairs. Turnout is usually greater than the provided seating. “The service starts off with the (Port St. Lucie Community & Concert Band) doing great patriotic music,” he said.
Jennifer Perkins will sing the national anthem. “I heard her a couple years ago,” Rubinstein said. “It blew me away.”
Mayor Greg Oravec will speak, as will others. “This year for our keynote speaker I’m bringing in Sgt. Thomas ‘Stormy’ Matteo,” Rubinstein said. “He’s the real deal.”
Matteo served in the Marine Corps from 1963 to 1970. In addition to being awarded the Purple Heart six times, he received the Bronze Star with the V device.
Rubinstein said he’s looking into participating in the Bells of Peace: A World War One Remembrance. The World War One Centennial Committee – with support from the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and others – is urging Americans to ring bells 21 times at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 11, to commemorate those who died in the Great War.
