Riverhead’s Veterans Day ceremony set for 11 a.m. Tuesday at W. Main Street War Memorial

Tomorrow is Veterans Day, a federal and state holiday that honors all U.S. veterans.

The Riverhead Combined Veterans Committee will host its annual Veterans Day ceremony tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. at the War Memorial monument on the corner of West Main and Court streets in Riverhead. 

The time and date of the observance marks the signing of the agreement that ended World War I — at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. The agreement, known as the armistice was signed by Germany, the Allied countries and the United States on the morning of Nov. 11, 1918.

The granite monument with its eternal flame is a local landmark dedicated in 1920 to the nearly 300 Riverhead men who fought in World War I — and the nine who made the ultimate sacrifice. 

See: “With 300 native sons fighting in Europe, Riverhead celebrated the armistice with parades, parties and prayers.”

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’s Veterans Day ceremonies canceled

Veterans Day ceremonies will not take place at Calverton National Cemetery this year due to the federal government shutdown. See: Veterans Day ceremony at Calverton National is canceled due to federal government shutdown.

The ceremonies are held in the assembly area and will last about an hour. The main entrance to Calverton National Cemetery is located on Middle Country Road in Calverton.

Veterans Day closings

• 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.

What is Veterans Day?

The holiday started out as Armistice Day, which commemorated the signing of the armistice agreement in 1918, which ended World War I. Armistice Day was recognized by Congressional Resolution in 1926, and became a national holiday in 1938. The holiday 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 after the holiday was named Veterans Day, issued Oct. 8, 1954.