Today is Veterans Day, a federal and state holiday honoring America’s military veterans. Here’s a rundown of holiday closings and schedule changes:
- Riverhead schools, Riverhead Town Hall, county, state and federal government offices and courts are closed today.
- Banks are closed today but financial markets are open.
- The post office is closed and there will be no mail delivery other than Priority Express Mail.
- Riverhead Free Library is closed.
- Riverhead Town’s municipal trash pickup follows its regular schedule today.
- Suffolk County Transit buses and the LIRR also follow a regular weekday schedule.
Veterans Day Ceremonies in Riverhead Town today
War Memorial Monument, West Main Street: Veterans Day ceremonies in Riverhead Town today will take place at 11 a.m. at the World War Memorial on the corner of West Main and Court streets in Riverhead, on the lawn of the Suffolk County Historical Society Museum, 300 West Main St., Riverhead.
The ceremony will include the laying of wreaths at the granite monument by members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Van Rensselaer Skidmore Post No 2476 in Riverhead and American Legion Post 273 in Riverhead. The ceremony takes place rain or shine.
Calverton National Cemetery: Veterans Day ceremonies will be held today at 1 p.m. at Calverton National Cemetery, 210 Princeton Boulevard, Calverton.
The ceremonies, organized by the Support Committee for Calverton National Cemetery, features presentation of colors by all branches of the armed forces, wreath-laying ceremonies, a performance of the National Anthem, and remarks by invited guests. The event takes place rain or shine.
Memorial trees dedication at Veterans Memorial Park: The Riverhead Town Veterans Advisory Committee will have a dedication ceremony today at 1 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Park in Calverton to commemorate newly planted cherry blossom trees honoring veterans’ service and sacrifice. Each tree is sponsored and dedicated to an individual veteran, whose name appears on a granite marker at the base of the tree.
What is Veterans Day?
Nov. 11 was designated as Veterans Day by an act of Congress in 1954. Prior to 1954, Nov. 11 was known as Armistice Day, proclaimed in 1919 by President Woodrow Wilson to commemorate the end of the “Great War” — later known as World War I .
On Nov. 11, 1918, at 11 a.m., the armistice agreement took effect and the bloody, four-year war that claimed the lives of more than 16 million people came to an end.
Armistice Day, recognized by Congressional Resolution in 1926, became a national holiday in 1938. It was changed to Veterans Day, to honor all U.S. veterans by a bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954.
The change was made at the urging of veterans service organizations, “after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history [and] after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
The name of the holiday was changed “in order that a grateful Nation might pay appropriate homage to the veterans of all its wars who have contributed so much to the preservation of this Nation,” Eisenhower said in the first presidential proclamation since the holiday was named Veterans Day, issued Oct. 8, 1954.
Check back later for photos from today’s Veterans Day ceremonies.
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