Chilton Christian Academy held a chapel service Wednesday to honor area veterans before Veterans Day on Nov. 11.

Johnny Curry, director of public events at the American Village Citizenship Trust in Montevallo, spoke to students, veterans and other guests in attendance about the history and purpose of Veterans Day.

“More than 40 million American service men and women have worn the uniform of the Armed Services,” Curry said. “These men and women have defended American freedom and even the freedom of other nations around the world.”

World War I officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, but fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice – a temporary cessation of hostilities – between the Allied nations and Germany took effect, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website.

The armistice went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, which is why Nov. 11, 1918 is typically referred to as the end of the war.

In November 1919, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson dubbed Nov. 11 the first commemoration of Armistice Day.

An act passed in 1938 made Nov. 11 each year a legal holiday known as Armistice Day, but in 1954 the word “Armistice” was replaced with “Veterans.”

In 1954, legislation was approved to make Nov. 11 a day to honor American veterans of all wars, and on Oct. 8, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first Veterans Day Proclamation stating all veterans, veterans’ organizations and citizens would join in the widespread observance of the annual holiday to honor veterans.

“We are eternally grateful to our nation’s veterans,” Curry said. “You have sacrificed for us, your families have sacrificed for us and you have remained the guardians of our liberty. It takes every single person in uniform to make the U.S. military what it is, and that is the finest military in the world.”

Curry talked about the Register of Honor and the National Veterans Shrine at the American Village.

Housed in the National Veterans Shrine, the Register of Honor is a website and database containing photographs, biographical sketches and stories of hundreds of thousands of America’s veterans and active members of the U.S. Armed Forces.

The National Veterans Shrine was dedicated Monday, Feb. 17, and was patterned after Philadelphia’s Carpenters Hall and honors veterans’ service and sacrifice for America and its freedom.

Curry said veterans and active military members could be added to the register on the website.

“We are forever indebted to them for what they do for our country,” Curry said.

Fourth grade students read a short story titled “Sack Lunch Flying” (author unknown) about a stranger’s act of kindness toward soldiers on an airplane.

Veterans and their families were invited to stand and be recognized as the songs of each branch of the military were played.

The program closed with fifth grader Tatumn Norcross playing “Taps” on the trumpet and Dr. Rufus Webster leading a prayer.

Refreshments were served after the service.