Honoring Our Veterans

For that reason, Nov. 11, 1918, was largely considered the end of "the war to end all wars" and dubbed Armistice Day. In 1926, Congress officially recognized it as the end of the war, and in 1938, it became an official holiday, primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I. After the American-involved wars that followed over the next two decades, on June 1, 1954, at the urging of veterans organizations, the holiday was given a new name to honor those who served in all wars: Veterans Day.

The Missouri Catholic Conference will be closed on Monday, November 11 in observance of this holiday. At the 2019 Annual Assembly, we honored a Catholic veteran from the Diocese of Jefferson City. Bill McAnany served in the Navy as an X-ray technician during WWII. Bill, now 98, is a survivor of Pearl Harbor, and shares his account of that harrowing day in this video interview.