November 11, 2026 - Good Morning! It’s Wednesday, November 11.
Welcome to Veteran’s Day, and welcome back to our week-long series to honor veterans, a set of devotions featuring stories behind our favorite patriotic songs. At 11am on November 11, 1918 - “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” - a treaty was signed that ended World War I. It was called Armistice Day.
That same year, a U.S. Army buck private wrote a patriotic song. His didn’t think much of it and set it aside. The private’s name was Israel Beilin.
Twenty years later, in 1938, he was calling himself Irving Berlin and was a celebrated Broadway songwriter. And America was celebrating the 20th anniversary of Armistice Day. Singer Kate Smith was set to perform on a national radio broadcast and asked Berlin to write her a song. Instead, he reached into his files and pulled out that old song. She sang it on November 11, and the rest, as they say, is history.
In 1954, the U.S. Congress voted to change the name of this holiday to Veteran’s Day. Speaking of Congress, the men and women of the House of Representatives and the Senate gathered on the steps of the Capitol the evening of September 11, 2001. We live in an era with tremendous division between our political parties. But that night, just hours after the 911 attack, Republicans stood with Democrats... and sang this song.
God bless America, land that I love
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with the light from above
From the mountains to the prairies
To the oceans white with foam
God bless America, my home sweet home
God bless America, my home sweet home
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
