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Citizens lined Main Street in Drakes Branch on Saturday, Nov. 11, for the second annual VFW Post 8902 Veteran’s Day Parade. The parade paid tribute to all veterans and was the idea of Julie Hamlett, wife of VFW Post 8902’s Garland H. ‘Butch’ Hamlett. 

In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…”

The original concept for the celebration was for a day observed with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11:00 a.m.

The United States Congress officially recognized the end of World War I when it passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926.