Nov 11 is:
Young Readers Day
National Sundae Day
November 11 – At 11 am on 11 November 1918 the guns of the Western Front fell silent after more than four years of continuous warfare. The Allied nations chose this day and time for the commemoration of their war dead and continue to do so by marking a 1–2 minute silence at 11 am on November 11 each year. The time of the remembrance is also known as the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
End of World War I related observances:
Armistice Day (New Zealand, France, Belgium and Serbia)
Independence Day, commemorates the anniversary of Poland’s assumption of independent statehood in 1918 (Poland)
Remembrance Day (United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Nations, including Australia and Canada)
Veterans Day, called Armistice Day until 1954, when the holiday was rededicated to be in honor of American military, naval, and Air Force, veterans. (United States)
Forty-one Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower, anchored off Massachusetts, signed a compact calling for a “body politick” in 1620.
Birthday of Abigail Smith Adams (November 11, 1744), wife of John Adams, second President of the United States; first lady from 1797-1801. Mother of John Quincy Adams, the 6th President of the United States. John Adams was a prolific writer of letters. He exchanged more than 1100 letters with his wife, Abigail. Most have been preserved in archives.
Birthday of Fyodor Dostoyevsky (November 11, 1821) , Russian novelist famed for “The Brothers Karamazov” and “Crime and Punishment”
Former slave Nat Turner, who had led a violent insurrection, was executed in Jerusalem, Va. in 1831.
Birthday of George Patton, (Nov. 11, 1885), the famous World War II American military officer.
Washington State Day, 1889, forty-second state
- Capital: Olympia
- Nickname: Evergreen State
- Bird: Willow goldfinch
- Flower: Coast rhododendron
- Tree:Western Hemlock
- Unofficial Motto: “Al-ki”, meaning “by and by” in Chinook Jargon
See our page on Washington for more interesting facts and trivia about the state of Washington.
Anniversary of the burial of the Unknown Soldier at the Tomb of the Unknowns in 1921 at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The tomb is guarded by soldiers of the United States Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment. The first 24-hour guard was posted on midnight, July 2, 1937. The Tomb of the Unknowns has been guarded continuously, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, since that time. Inclement weather, terrorist attacks, etc, do not cause the watch to cease.
Everything the guards do is a series of 21, which alludes to the 21-gun salute.
The Sentinel does not execute an about face, rather they stop on the 21st step, then turn and face the Tomb for 21 seconds. They then turn to face back down the mat, change the weapon to the outside shoulder, mentally count off 21 seconds, then step off for another 21 step walk down the mat. They face the Tomb at each end of the 21 step walk for 21 seconds. The Sentinel then repeats this over and over until the Guard Change ceremony begins.
The U.S. Army turned over its base at Long Binh to the South Vietnamese army, symbolizing the end of direct U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War in 1972.