May 30, 1921

There are more than four million persons in the nation who know from experience what war service means. There are more than one hundred thousand homes which have been darkened by the irreparable infliction of war. There are hundreds of thousands carrying the marks and disability of war. Unto the whole nation has been revealed the meaning and the sacrifices of war. The thirtieth day of May has been set apart that all the people might think on these things, on the blessings of peace as the result of their righteous victory, on the devotion of the living, on the obligation to recompense the disabled, on the everlasting honor which is due to the dead, that this nation, through the fulfilment of these obligations, may continue worthy of these great sacrifices, and through the cultivation of a like spirit continue to be partakers in like glories.

Vice President Calvin Coolidge