About the Veterans Day Concert
The Central Dauphin High School Concert Bands will present  a Veterans Day Concert on Wednesday, November 5, 2008, at 7:00 pm in the Central Dauphin High School auditorium.   Band Director Mr. Matthew Ceresini and the members of the Central Dauphin High School Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble extend an invitation to all local veterans and their families to attend this event.   We ask that if you know veterans or know folks who know veterans, please pass along the Bands' invitations to attend this free event.  The musical selection will feature a musical tribute to those who have served our country as well as lots of other patriotic music! 

About Veterans Day
On November 11, 1918, the Allies and the Germans signed an armistice that ended four years of conflict later known as World War I.  In November of 1919, President Woodrow Wilson issued his Armistice Day proclamation, which captures the spirit of the observance today.  President Wilson noted, "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nation."
In 1921, an American soldier—his name “known but to God”—was buried on a Virginia hillside overlooking the Potomac River and the city of Washington, DC. The burial site of this unknown World War I soldier in Arlington National Cemetery symbolized dignity and reverence for America's veterans.  Similar ceremonies occurred earlier in England and France, where an “unknown soldier” of the Great War was buried in each nation's highest place of honor (in England, Westminster Abbey; in France, the Arc de Triomphe). These memorial gestures all took place on November 11, giving universal recognition to the celebrated ending of World War I hostilities at 11 a.m., November 11, 1918 (the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month). The day became known as “Armistice Day.”  Armistice Day officially received its name in America in 1926 through a Congressional resolution. It became a national holiday 12 years later by similar Congressional action. If World War I had indeed been “the war to end all wars,” November 11 might still be called Armistice Day. But in 1939, World War II broke out in Europe and shattered that dream. Of the 16 million Americans who served in the Armed Forces during World War II, more than 400,000 died.

In response to numerous petitions to honor also veterans of the Second World War, Congress in 1954 changed what had been known as Armistice Day to Veterans' Day.  President Eisenhower called on all citizens to observe the day by remembering the sacrifices of all those who fought so gallantly, and through rededication to the task of promoting an enduring peace. The President explained the purpose of the change of name to Veterans Day was to honor the servicemen of all America's wars.   The Central Dauphin High School bands will on November 5, 2008 seek to fulfill the hopes of Presidents Wilson and Eisenhower by honoring through music our nation's veterans.  Please join us!