Veterans Day is observed annually on November 11 to honor men and women who have served in the U.S. armed forces. It was established after World War I to remember the “war to end all wars” and originated as “Armistice Day” on November 11, 1919. It was pegged to the time that a cease-fire, or armistice, occurred in Europe on November 11, 1918. (World War I officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919 in France.)
A year later, President Woodrow Wilson said the armistice anniversary deserved recognition. “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,”.
Armistice Day officially received its name through a congressional resolution that was passed on June 4, 1926 for an annual observance. By that time, 27 states had made Armistice Day a legal holiday. Unlike Memorial Day, Veterans Day pays tribute to all American veterans—living or dead—but especially gives thanks to living veterans who served their country honorably during war or peacetime.
In 1938, Armistice Day officially became a national holiday by law, when an act was passed on May 13, 1938, making November 11 in each year a legal holiday: “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day.’”
After World War II, the act was amended to honor veterans of World War II and Korea, and the name was changed to Veterans Day in 1954. President Dwight D. Eisenhower marked the occasion with a special proclamation.
If the idealistic hope had been realized that World War I was “the War to end all wars,” November 11 might still be called Armistice Day. But only a few years after the holiday was proclaimed, war broke out in Europe. Sixteen and one-half million Americans took part. Four hundred seven thousand of them died in service, more than 292,000 in battle.
It has been an American tradition to honor our military on the traditional time of 11:11 a.m. on November 11. When Congress tried to move the holiday, they faced years of strong public resistance. Controversy came in 1968, when Congress tried to change when Veterans Day was celebrated as a national holiday, by moving the holiday to a Monday at the end of October.
The Uniform Monday Holiday Act was signed on June 28, 1968, and it changed the traditional days for Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Columbus Day, to ensure that the holidays fell on a Monday, giving federal employees a three-day weekend.
The bill moved Veterans Day, at least on a federal level, to the last Monday in October, with the first observance of the new date in 1971. Veterans groups moved quickly to oppose the date switch, and two states refused to switch their dates in 1971. By 1974, there was confusion over the two dates and most states took a pass on commemorating the holiday in October.
In an editorial at the time, the Weirton, West Virginia Daily Times explained why the holiday switch wasn’t working. “Congress has no choice now but to enact legislation restoring Nov. 11 as Veterans Day. The majority of the states have spoken and the Congress should heed their preference. There’s too much confusion over the two dates,” says an editorial from October 28, 1974. “All veterans’ organizations retain the original date.”
A few months after that editorial ran, 46 of the 50 states decided to ignore the federal celebration in October, by either switching back to November 11 or refusing to change the holiday. By the middle of 1975, Congress had seen enough, and it amended the Uniform Monday Holiday Act to move Veterans Day back to November 11. President Gerald Ford signed the act on September 20, 1975, which called for the move to happen in 1978.
That November, the Carroll Daily Times Herald in Iowa said it was about time Congress did the right thing. “[Veterans] deserve to be honored on their special day, not as an adjunct to a weekend holiday as Washington tried to force on us,” the newspaper commented.
“The military men and women who serve and protect the United States come from all walks of life; they are parents, children, grandparents, friends, neighbors and coworkers, and are an important part of our communities.” Here are a few interesting facts about the veteran population of the United States:
19 million living veterans served during at least one war as of April 2021. 11 percent of veterans are women. Of the 16 million Americans who served during World War II, about 240,000 were still alive as of 2021.
5.9 million Veterans served during the Vietnam War. 933,000 veterans served during the Korean War. 7.8 million Veterans served in the Gulf War era. As of 2021, the top three states with the highest percentage of Veterans were Alaska, Virginia and Montana.
In 1921, an unknown World War I American soldier was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. This site, on a hillside overlooking the Potomac River and the city of Washington, D.C., became the focal point of reverence for America’s veterans.
Similar ceremonies had occurred earlier in England and France, where an unknown soldier was buried in each nation’s highest place of honor (in England, Westminster Abbey; in France, the Arc de Triomphe). These memorial gestures all took place on November 11, giving universal recognition to the celebrated ending of World War I fighting at 11 a.m., November 11, 1918
The first celebration using the term Veterans Day occurred in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1947. Raymond Weeks, a World War II veteran, organized “National Veterans Day,” which included a parade and other festivities, to honor all veterans. The event was held on November 11; then designated Armistice Day.
U.S. Representative Edward Rees of Kansas proposed a bill that would change Armistice Day to Veterans Day. In 1954, Congress passed the bill that President Eisenhower signed proclaiming November 11 as Veterans Day. Raymond Weeks received the Presidential Citizens Medal from President Reagan in November 1982. Weeks’ local parade and ceremonies are now an annual event celebrated nationwide.
On Memorial Day in 1958, two more unidentified American war dead were brought from overseas and interred in the plaza beside the unknown soldier of World War I. One was killed in World War II, the other in the Korean War.
In 1984, an unknown serviceman from the Vietnam War was placed alongside the others. However, the remains from Vietnam were exhumed May 14, 1998, identified as Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie, and removed for burial. To honor these men, symbolic of all Americans who gave their lives in all wars, an Army honor guard, the 3rd U.S. Infantry (The Old Guard), keeps day and night vigil Arlington National Cemetery.
“The focal point for official, national ceremonies for Veterans Day continues to be the memorial amphitheater built around the Tomb of the Unknowns. At 11 a.m. on November 11, a combined color guard representing all military services executes “Present Arms” at the tomb. The nation’s tribute to its war dead is symbolized by the laying of a presidential wreath. The bugler plays “taps.” The rest of the ceremony takes place in the amphitheater.”
Let us not forget.