Galesburg Reporter

In a Nov. 11 Facebook post, Sen. Win Stoller honored veterans.

“Thank you to the brave men and women who answered the call to serve and protect our great nation,” he wrote on Facebook.

The 11th hour of the 11th day of November in 1918 is the time and day World War I ended after Germany signed the armistice agreement.

Veterans Day was first known as Armistice Day, celebrating the end of the First World War, when "fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month," according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The first commemoration of the day was in November 1919, when President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first Armistice Day. He said: "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 nations…"

NPR reports that there are places there veterans can receive discounts on the holiday, and sometimes, throughout the year. Restaurants give discounts or free items, although individuals must be able to provide documentation of their service to receive these at certain places.

Stoller was first elected to the Illinois Senate in 2021. His legislative experience includes serving on the Environment and Conservation Committee and Senate Higher Education Committee. Stoller resides in Germantown Hills.