Last updated on April 4th, 2023
Every year on November 11, the United States celebrates Veterans Day to honor those who serve and have served in the armed forces. The armed forces is comprised of six branches: the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard and Space Force. The holiday is rich with historical significance and has weathered changes spanning several presidencies and decades. Here are 50 facts about Veterans Day that you may not know.
1. Veterans Day is not grammatically incorrect, as many people believe. The Department of Veterans Affairs explains that veterans do not own the holiday, which would make it Veteran’s Day, but instead it is a day to honor them.
2. Armistice Day was the original name of Veterans Day. It was called this because it represented the first anniversary of a cessation between Germany and the Allied Nations in World War I.
3. The armistice began in 1918, in the eleventh month, on the eleventh day, at the eleventh hour. However, it does not signify the actual end of the war. It merely represents the start of the end.
4. Originally, Veterans Day was not intended to take place every year. It was not until 1926 that Congress determined it should be a yearly occurrence.
5. It was not until 1938 that the day became a holiday recognized nationwide.
6. President Dwight D. Eisenhower is responsible for the name change from Armistice Day to Veterans Day. He did this in 1954, reasoning that the day should be about recognizing veterans who served in any war instead of focusing on the end of one war.
7. Once word got around that the focus was shifting off of the end of a single war, some individuals advocated for the day to be known as Mayflower Day. This is because on the same day in 1620, the Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact.
8. The Veterans Day National Committee was created in 1954 to carry out executive plans for the holiday. The group meets three times each year in Washington, D.C. in preparation for the big day.
9. Initially, the chair of the committee was the Administrator of Veterans Affairs. In 1989, Veterans Affairs became a department within the Cabinet, which shifted responsibility of the chair to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
10. Veterans Day was not always celebrated on November 11. Congress put forth the Uniform Holidays Act in 1968, which specified that the holiday would be observed every October on the fourth Monday. This went through in 1971.
11. Four years later, President Gerald Ford undid this move by signing a law that returned the holiday back to November 11.
12. Now, Veterans Day is always on November 11. However, if that date falls on a weekend, many businesses “observe” the holiday on the closest weekday — either Friday or Monday — allowing employees the day off of work that they are entitled to.
13. Schools may or may not close for Veterans Day. The decision is left to local school boards and officials of private schools.
14. A known symbol of Memorial Day is the poppy, but most American Legion Auxiliary groups also make poppies out of red crepe paper by hand in honor of Veterans Day.
15. Veterans Day and Memorial Day are distinctly different. Memorial Day is celebrated in honor of soldiers who died “in the line of duty”. Veterans Day honors all soldiers who have served, including those who have passed and those who currently serve.
16. Honored veterans do not only encompass the soldiers who went to war. Veterans Day also recognizes those who served their country during peacetime.
17. Duties of soldiers during peacetime, or those that simply do not see the war, fulfill other important roles. They may bring relief to areas hit by natural disasters, guard U.S. embassies or provide medical assistance to underserved communities.
18. Veterans Day differs from Armed Forces Day as well, since Armed Forces Day is mainly in celebration of the troops who are currently serving their country. This day is recognized every May, on the third Saturday.
19. June 12 is a day that credits women veterans. It falls on the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act’s anniversary, which was signed in by President Harry S. Truman in 1948. While it is celebrated in some states, it is not yet a national holiday.
20. On July 16, 1983, President Ronald Reagan held a commemorative ceremony called National Atomic Veterans Day. This day recognized soldiers who worked in or near Nagasaki and Hiroshima through 1946, worked on nuclear testing from 1945 until 1962 and those who were prisoners of war in or near Nagasaki or Hiroshima.
21. On the same day in 2021, President Joe Biden once again observed National Atomic Veterans Day. In December of that year, Biden signed a law to officially make the day an annual observance.
22. More than 400,000 veterans and veterans’ families are buried in the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The cemetery spans 624 acres.
23. At 11:00 in the morning on Veterans Day each year, the same time that the World War I armistice was originally signed, an observance is held at Arlington National Cemetery. Guards remember the “Unknown Soldier” by laying a wreath on his tomb, followed by a parade of colors conducted by veterans organization.
24. However, the oldest and biggest Veterans Day parade began in 1919 and is held along Fifth Avenue in New York City.
25. The end of World War I is recognized in other countries, as well. Australia, Belgium, Canada and France observe it on the same day and call it Remembrance Day.
26. Some countries, such as the United Kingdom, celebrate Remembrance Sunday, which occurs every November on the second Sunday. Two minutes of silence is typically observed in order to honor those who died in war. This tradition began in South Africa before World War I even ended.
27. The Central Powers of World War I was led by Germany, where Veterans, Armistice or Remembrance Day are not celebrated. However, they do have what is known as Volkstrauertag, or the national day of mourning. This day falls somewhere between November 13 and 19. Initially, the day was spent glorifying the War, but it has evolved into a day that remembers fallen soldiers. It is also a day to speak out against atrocities of war and promote peace.
28. There is even a day to honor the canines who served military forces throughout the years. This day falls on March 13 and is known as National K9 Veterans Day.
29. In 2020 on Veterans Day, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, which is located in Washington, D.C., revealed what it called the National Native American Veterans Memorial.
30. On Veterans Day in 2021, Democratic lawmakers brought back earlier legislative attempts to provide compensation for living descendants of black veterans who served in World War II. These veterans’ benefits were not the same as those the white veterans received through the GI Bill. Therefore, black veterans did not receive the same educational benefits and chances to grow generational wealth by owning property.
31. National Marine Corps Day takes place on November 10 every year. A traditional ball is held, along with a ceremony involving a cake-cutting. Marine Corps members often take a 96-hour “liberty period” to observe this and Veterans Day.
32. As of 2021, there were roughly 19 million veterans in the United States, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
33. Women account for about 10 percent of veterans who are still alive.
34. Military.com states that almost nine million soldiers served in the Vietnam War.
35. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 7.4 million veterans served during the Gulf War era.
36. As of 2020, there were more than one million veterans who served in the Korean War, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
37. Only about 167,000 of the 16 million soldiers that were active during World War II were still living in 2022.
38. The Pew Research Center stated that as of 2016, about 77 percent of veterans had served during wartime. The remaining 23 percent served during peacetime.
39. The Census Bureau said that in 2016, only seven percent of adults were veterans. Compare this number to the 18 percent of adult veterans who were alive in 1980.
40. The mandatory military draft, or selective service, officially ended in 1973. Since then it has been entirely voluntary.
41. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the biggest living group of veteran males were those who provided their service in the Vietnam Era, which was between August 1964 and April 1975. The biggest living group of women veterans provided service following 9/11, or after September 2001.
42. The Department of Veterans Affairs projects that by 2045, around 12 million adults will be veterans.
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