November 11, is Veterans Day, a public holiday in the United States. Veterans Day was originally celebrated as Armistice Day, and the historians among you will recall that the armistice ending World War I went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 1918. Congress acted to rename the holiday, “To honor veterans on the 11th day of November of each year, a day dedicated to world peace.” Ch. 250, 68 Stat. 168 (1954). In the late 1960’s, when Congress adopted legislation to create more three-day weekends on public holidays, Veterans day was moved to the fourth Monday in October. This lasted only a few years, and with popular sentiment favoring the traditional date of November 11, it was returned to that date in 1978. Pub. L. 94-97, 89 Stat. 479 (1975).

The law library has a special connection to Veterans Day. The library’s namesake, Robert S. Marx, a Hamilton County judge, was a founder of the Disabled American Veterans. The organization’s mission statement reads, “We are dedicated to a single purpose: empowering veterans to lead high-quality lives with respect and dignity. We accomplish this by ensuring that veterans and their families can access the full range of benefits available to them; fighting for the interests of America’s injured heroes on Capitol Hill; and educating the public about the great sacrifices and needs of veterans transitioning back to civilian life.” You can read of the DAV’s founding and the role played by Robert S. Marx on its website.

We in the law library join our fellow citizens in expressing our gratitude for the service and sacrifice made on behalf of our country by U.S. veterans.