Updated: 3/11/2023

​I.  What is it? 

• Women’s History Month in the United States occurs in March of each year to:
  • celebrate the achievements women have made throughout American history
  • recognize all that remains to be done.

 
When did it start?  

• 1987.  The U.S. Congress designated March as “Women’s History Month.” Between 1988 and 1994, Congress passed successive resolutions requesting and authorizing the U.S. President to proclaim Women’s History Month.  Since 1995, presidents have issued annual proclamations of Women’s History Month.

​Antecedents.  The origin story of Women’s History Month, however, began far earlier in the labor protests carried out by women in the nation’s paid workforce.

• 1857.  Most notably, a one-day strike and march by hundreds of women from the textile and needles factories in New York City on March 8, 1857, made history.  
  • Fed up with life-threatening workplace conditions, low pay, and excruciating hours, the women took to the streets.  
  • Their day of action initiated a labor movement that, due to the obstruction by powerful business interests prioritizing profit over fairness, required decades of hard effort to create positive change.​

Veterans Day in the United States honors everyone who served in the U.S. military.  Since Veterans Day is coming up on November 11, I'm reading Molly Guptill Manning’s nonfiction book, When Books Went to War:  The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II. 

Americans were hesitant—and sometimes outright opposed—to enter the war in Europe.  After all, a mere eighteen years had passed from the armistice of the Great War in 1918 to the invasion of Poland in 1939.  
 
Hitler’s military rampage across eastern and western Europe eliminated any doubts that Americans might have had regarding Nazi goals to obliterate not only armed forces, but also free thought, democracies, and the cultures in which they thrived.  After France fell in June 1940, the U.S. Congress passed, in September 1940, the Selective Training and Service Act:  the first peacetime draft in U.S. history.   President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Act into law on September 16.  Barely fifteen months later, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
 
In 1939, the U.S. armed forces consisted of outdated equipment, scant supplies, and approximately 334,000 volunteers.  From 1941 to 1945, the armed forces grew rapidly from approximately 1.8 million to over 12 million men and women in uniform.   Throughout the war, books played a critical role in building morale and winning the battle for ideas.
 
Current-day readers like you and me can enjoy the engrossing story of that role in Manning's 2014 book, When Books Went to War.   You'll learn why and how Americans made fiction and nonfiction books accessible to the men and women of the U.S. armed forces.  

Perhaps you, like me, have more than one favorite schoolteacher.  
 
1.  Mrs. Gossett.  My first-grade teacher is a favorite because she taught me how to do one of my favorite activities:  read.  
 
She was a young and attractive lady with a flair for fashion that even the local newspaper wanted to showcase.  

​It happened on the day that Mrs. Gossett wore a trendy “balloon” outfit.  

​The long-sleeved dress had no fitted waist and “ballooned” loosely to the street-length hem where the fullness of the garment was gathered to a circumference barely wide enough for her to walk.  That spring-green dress complemented her well-coifed hair, high heels, and bright lipstick.  

All of us kids were impressed.

At the time, we didn't know about World Teachers' Day because it didn't exist.  We'd have to wait until 1994 for a global celebration of teachers' contributions and the support they need to deploy their talents and help build the future. 

National Flag Day, June 14, commemorates the day in 1777 when the Second Continental Congress adopted the national flag of the United States of America.  

How did Flag Day begin? 

• 1885.  Perhaps the idea came from several sources.  In 1885, a young Wisconsin schoolteacher, Bernard J. Cigard (1866-1932), who later became a practicing dentist and dean of a dental school, conducted a "birthday for the flag" as a teaching tool.  
  • Cigrand is referred to as the "Father of Flag Day" for two main reasons:  
    • his formal observance on June 14, 1885, and
    • his tireless promotion of June 14 as a day devoted to an annual observance of the national flag.  
  • Dr. Cigrand's vision of an official National Flag Day, established by the U.S. government and celebrated throughout the country each year, was not realized until after his death. 
• 1916.  In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed June 14 as the official date.
• 1949.  In 1949, President Harry S. Truman signed a Congressional Act into law which permanently established June 14 as "National Flag Day," but did not make it a federal holiday.

If Americans can fly their flag every day of the year, why is a Flag Day necessary?
Americans can fly the flag every day of the year, but June 14 is a special day of observance. 

Memorial Day falls on Monday, May 31, this year in the United States.  The most important thing Americans do on Memorial Day is honor military service members who gave their lives serving in the nation's wars or who died as a result of their combat injuries. 

​Many novels, memoirs, histories, and films tell the story of the men and women--sometimes known and more often unknown to most people--honored on Memorial Day.

Among the many are two young Marines--Corporal Jonathan T. Yale and Lance Corporal Jordan C. Haerter--who gave their lives in the line of duty.  Their actions on April 22, 2008, saved over 150 U.S. Marines and Iraqi Police.  It all happened in Ramadi, Iraq, which at the time was one of the most dangerous towns on Earth.

I learned about their inspirational actions from the following speech and film.  You can, too. 

Today, November 11, is Veterans Day in the USA, a date set aside each year to honor everyone who served in the United States military.  
​
Memorial programs and parades occur throughout the country in a formal effort to show the nations's daily appreciation and gratitude for the service of the citizens who stepped forward during war and peace.  Individuals who never served in the armed forces greet the veterans they see with a warm "Thank you for your service."  Veterans turn to fellow veterans and say, "Thank you for your service."

Everyday is a good day to express one's appreciation to a veteran, but Veterans Day adds the contagious energy of an entire population celebrating together.

My generation is one where just about every kid's dad and uncles served in World War II or Korea.  I never met any of the women who served in those wars until I enlisted in the Women's Army Corps during the Vietnam War.  

Based on what I've learned since then, I might have met some female veterans during my childhood and adolescence without realizing it because women are often less likely to point out their military service.  

I like to think that is changing.  

​​Memorial Day is Monday, May 27, this year in the United States. The three-day weekend marks the beginning of summer for most Americans (ahead of the June 21 summer solstice), a day off from work and, weather permitting, outdoor activities in glorious sunshine.  
 
But the most important thing Americans do on Memorial Day is honor service members who gave their lives serving in the nation’s wars or who died as a result of their combat injuries.   
 
Somber memorial services at cemeteries across the country are often punctuated by gun salutes and aircraft flyovers.  Local officials give speeches and the media snap images for news outlets.  An active-duty service member might be invited to share accounts of soldiers, sailors, marines, or airmen who gave their lives for their country.   Sitting in the bleachers at one of these memorial tributes is a humbling reminder of the debt we owe to those who have gone before us.
 
Hampton Sides’ nonfiction book, On Desperate Ground:  The Marines at the Reservoir, the Korean War’s Greatest Battle, is another excellent reminder.  His thorough and riveting account of the epic battle high in the mountains in the dead of winter at the Chosin Reservoir reads like a novel—a story you don’t want to put down, a story you wish were fiction rather than harsh truth.