On November 11th, New Britain will join worldwide commemoration of the Armistice that brought an end to the First World War, as the city honors its Veterans on Veterans Day.
Armistice Day, now Veterans Day in the United States, originally began to remember those to fought and gave their lives in what was then referred to as the Great War.
The New Britain Veterans Council and city Veterans Commission are holding a special Veterans Day ceremony this year at the World War I Memorial in Walnut Hill Park.
The Veterans Council reminds the New Britain community that approximately 3,500 New Britain residents fought in World War I. One hundred and twenty-three of those city resident gave their lives in the war.
“New Britain did not hesitate to throw its full weight into the effort for freedom from oppression in Europe,” said Tom Higgins, President of the New Britain Veteran’s Council and Co-Chair for the Veterans Council’s Armistice at 100 commemoration. “Not only did we enlist soldiers and sailors to serve in the military, but also our citizens and industry in New Britain worked tirelessly for several years in support of the making of all things needed to conduct this campaign for freedom.”
The Armistice at 100 ceremony at the World War I Monument will be held at 10:30am.
As part of the ceremony, the different organizations that are members of the New Britain Veterans Council will recognize each of the 123 veterans memorialized on the World War I monument.
Bells will ring for the New Britain residents who gave their lives in World War I at approximately 11:11am. The Armistice ending the war took effect on November 11, 1918, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
While special recognition is being made this year on the one hundredth anniversary of the World War I Armistice, the city will give Veterans Day honors to all of the city’s veterans.
War memorials are placed throughout New Britain, remembering those who served, and especially those who gave their lives, in different wars.
The city has long held to the tradition of holding separate memorial ceremonies at each of the monuments, reading the names of those who made the ultimate sacrifice and remembering where they fought and what they did.
Those ceremonies traditionally begin with the ceremony and wreath-laying at the General John Patterson Memorial at 8:00am. The Patterson Memorial is near the corner of East and Allen Streets.
Those honoring the city’s veterans at all of the monuments traditionally travel for a succession of ceremonies held at:
- The Spanish American War Memorial at Willow Brook Park at 635 South Main Street.
- The Vietnam Memorial at Willow Brook Park at 635 South Main Street.
- The Sherrod E. Skinner Memorial on Corbin Avenue and Lincoln Streets.
- The Israel Putnam Stone at Walnut Hill Park.
- The World War I Monument in Walnut Hill Park.
- The General Casimir Pulaski Monument and General Tadeusz Kosciuszko Monument at Pulaski Park at the corner of Broad and Burritt Streets.
- The Civil War, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War and Afghanistan and Iraq War Memorials at Central Park.
- The Belvidere Area World War II Memorial at Campbell Square at Stanley Street and Hillcrest Avenue.
- The Captain Brian S. Letendre U.S.M.C. Memorial at Pendleton Road and Sunnyslope Drive
- The 65th Infantry Regiment Memorial at the corner of Beaver and Washington Streets and Farmington Avenue.
In New Britain, there is a long tradition of honoring veterans on the traditional Veterans Day and Memorial Day, rather than on the Monday of the three day weekend for each.
The member organizations of the New Britain Veterans Council are the American Legion Post 6, DAV Hardware City Chapter 8, Franco-American War Veterans Post 126, General Haller Post 111, Marine Corps League, Hardware City Detachment 781, Northwestern Veterans, TGM Memorial Post and VFW Post 511.
Editor’s note (11/11/2018): The article was updated to note Tom Higgins’ position as President of the New Britain Veteran’s Council.
