Veterans Day Facts

1st Marine Division, Battle of Fallujah - Iraq, 2004

Veterans Day was originally called "Armistice Day" to commemorate the truce signed between the Allies and the Germans in World War I on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.  It all began on a private railroad car in the Forest of Compiegne just outside Picardie, France.  This railroad car belonged to Ferdinand Foch who authored most of the armistice.  This was the secret location where the armistice was signed to end the war to end all wars.  The fighting had ended - all was quiet on the western front.

The first Armistice Day in the U.S. was celebrated on November 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I.  All business was suspended to observe two minutes of silence beginning at 11am.  Later, America also started honoring its Unknown Soldiers on Armistice Day.  In 1921 on Armistice Day, the first unknown soldier was laid to rest at Arlington Cemetery.  He was a casualty of the Great War, World War I.

It is now tradition for the President or one of his representatives to lay a wreath on the monument every November 11th.  In 1938, Congress made Armistice Day a national holiday giving people the day off work.  At 11am every Veterans Day a color guard ceremony represents all branches of the military at the Tomb of the Unknowns in the Arlington National Cemetery.  In 1954, President Eisenhower changed Armistice Day to Veterans day.  The name was changed to Veterans Day to honor all veterans, not just those that served in World War I.

For seven years, Veterans Day was actually celebrated in October.  In 1968, Congress moved Veterans Day to the 4th Monday in October so that government employees could enjoy a long weekend, but most people rejected this and wanted the holiday to returned to the historical date of November 11th.  So in 1975, President Gerald Ford reversed the law and returned Veterans Day to November 11th  due to the historical significance.   Memorial Day honors the war dead, but Veterans Day honors all American veterans living and dead.  The U.S Census Bureau estimates that there are over 21 million living military veterans in the U.S.: more than 16 million of these served during times of war while 5.5 million served during peace time only.

USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73) Underway - 
Fort Story, Virginia

The brave men and women who serve and protect the U.S. come from all walks of life; they are parents, children and grandparents. They are friends, neighbors and coworkers, and an important part of their communities.  Here are some facts about the current veteran population of the United States.

• 9.2 million veterans are over the age of 65.
• 1.9 million veterans are under the age of 35.
• 1.8 million veterans are women.
• 7.8 million veterans served during the Vietnam War era (1964-1975), which represents 33% of all living veterans.
• 5.2 million veterans served during the Gulf War (representing service from Aug. 2, 1990, to present).
• 2.6 million veterans served during World War II (1941-1945).
• 2.8 million veterans served during the Korean War (1950-1953).
• 6 million veterans served in peacetime.

As of 2008, 2.9 million veterans received compensation for service-connected disabilities. Five states have more than 1 million veterans in among their population: California (2.1 million), Florida (1.7 million), Texas (1.7 million), New York (1 million) and Pennsylvania (1 million).  The VA health care system had 54 hospitals in 1930, since then it has expanded to include 171 medical centers; more than 350 outpatient, community, and outreach clinics; 126 nursing home care units; and 35 live-in care facilities for injured or disabled vets.

VETERANS DAY SPEECH BY PRESIDENT REAGAN ON NOVEMBER 11, 1988:  Those who live today remember those who do not. Those who know freedom remember today those who gave up life for freedom.

Today, in honor of the dead, we conduct ceremonies. We lay wreaths. We speak words of tribute. And in our memories, in our hearts, we hold them close to us still. Yet we also know, even as their families knew when they last looked upon them, that they can never be fully ours again, that they belong now to God and to that for which they so selflessly made a final and eternal act of devotion.

We could not forget them. Even if they were not our own, we could not forget them. For all time, they are what we can only aspire to be: giving, unselfish, the epitome of human love -- to lay down one's life so that others might live.  We think on their lives. We think on their final moments. In our mind's eye, we see young Americans in a European forest or on an Asian island or at sea or in aerial combat.

And as life expired, we know that those who could had last thoughts of us and of their love for us. As they thought of us then, so, too, we think of them now, with love, with devotion, and with faith: the certainty that what they died for was worthy of their sacrifice -- faith, too, in God and in the Nation that has pledged itself to His work and to the dream of human freedom, and a nation, too, that today and always pledges itself to their eternal memory.  Thank you. God bless you.

This Veterans Day don't forget to call a veteran and tell them "Thank You" for their service to our free country.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.  *John 15:13*