which used to be referred to as \u201cArmistice Day,\u201d<\/a> officially became \u201cVeterans Day\u201d in 1954 when President Dwight Eisenhower signed a proclamation designating Nov. 11 as the day where all servicemembers are recognized as opposed to solely celebrating the end of World War I fighting. <\/p>\nNews4JAX visited American Legion Post 88 on the federal holiday to hear from Jacksonville\u2019s veterans about what this day means to them.<\/p>\n
Among those interviewed were Dale Compton, an Army veteran and vice commander of Post 88; Alexa Burke, who has served 10 years in the Air Force; and Jerry Nowak, a Navy veteran.<\/p>\n
Alexa Burke said Veterans Day \u201chelps remind the general public what we go through and pushes us forward that what we do is noticed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dale Compton described the day as \u201cthe commitment to my brothers and my sisters who have served the time that we committed to the military, to serve our country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jerry Nowak shared a personal connection. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt means a lot to me as a veteran because my dad, first of all, was a veteran. That\u2019s one of the reasons I went into the Navy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The veterans also emphasized the value of having a place like the American Legion to come together.<\/p>\n
Dale Compton said, \u201cHere, with the American Legion and other veteran organizations, you have an opportunity to speak to like-minded individuals that have experienced the same things that you\u2019ve experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jerry Nowak added, \u201cWe share stories. We come out and support one another. Somebody\u2019s sick. We\u2019re ailing. We pray for them. We\u2019re one big family working together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alexa Burke echoed this sense of community: \u201cNo matter who I\u2019m sitting next to or who I come across here, we can relate on something. We can talk, we can share stories. I know they have my back. It\u2019s a giant family in here. That\u2019s why I love coming here, and I\u2019m part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
To all veterans in Jacksonville and beyond, thank you for your service.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Veterans Day is a time to honor those who have served in the military, which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,2583,14607],"class_list":{"0":"post-43247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-jacksonville","9":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","10":"tag-jacksonville-news","11":"tag-military","12":"tag-veterans-day"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}