2007 Press Releases

Commemoration of Veteran’s Day

Bratislava, November 5, 2007

In Commemoration of Veteran’s Day, Ambassador Rodolphe M. Vallee and Minister of Defense František Kašický will participate in a wreath laying ceremony beginning at 10:00 on Friday November 9, in Svätý Jur.  The ceremony will take place at the memorial marker for Second Lieutenant Ray W. Allen, who crashed near Svätý Jur on June 26, 1944.

Second Lieutenant Ray W. Allen was the pilot of a Lockheed P-38 J-LO Lightning fighter plane from the 82nd Fighter Group of the 95th Fighter Squadron from San Vicenze Air Base.  He was shot down somewhere over Svätý Jur near Bratislava, Slovakia on June 26, 1944.  He did not survive the crash. 

World War I officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles. In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: "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…" The United States commemorates Armistice Day, now referred to as Veteran’s Day to this day.