An Oath for Veteran’s Day

Veterans from the various branches of the U.S. armed forces are honored every November 11 through the federal holiday known as Veterans Day. Veterans Day, originally known as Armistice Day, dates to November 11, 1919, and it was established to mark the end of World War I. A resolution was adopted by Congress on June 4, 1926, for Armistice Day to be observed each year. In 1945, a World War II veteran named Raymond Weeks promoted the idea of expanding Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans. Congress established a bill in 1954 to make Armistice Day a federal holiday which President Dwight Eisenhower signed into law on May 26, 1954. It was during that year that Congress amended the bill on June 1 to replace “Armistice” with “Veterans”.

The Manuscripts and Rare Books Department of Special Collections at Joyner Library has been fortunate to acquire the papers of veterans who served in both World Wars, the American Civil War, the Korean War, Vietnam and the Iraq War (2003-2011). Thomas Robert Lundin’s papers are in the Ott-Lundin Family Collection (#1051). Lundin is a veteran who served in Kuwait and Iraq in 2003. He was a specialist in Bravo Company, 1-3 Aviation Regiment, in the 3rd Infantry Division, U.S. Army. Below is the oath that he swore to at the time of his enlistment. His signature is at the bottom of the document.

Enlistment Oath from Ott-Lundin Family Collection #1051, East Carolina Manuscript Collection