View source for Veterans Day

{{Short description|Federal holiday in the United States}}
{{Other uses|Veterans Day (disambiguation)}}
{{Pp-semi-indef}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox holiday
|holiday_name  = Veterans Day
|image         = World War I veteran Joseph Ambrose, 86, at the dedication day parade for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1982.jpg
|caption       = U.S. [[World War I]] veteran [[Joseph F. Ambrose|Joseph Ambrose]] (1896–1988) attends the dedication parade for the [[Vietnam Veterans Memorial]] in 1982, wearing his original [[Brodie helmet]] and [[doughboy]] uniform and holding the flag that covered the casket of his son, Clement, who was killed in the [[Korean War]].
|observedby    = [[United States]]
|type          = National
|celebrations  = Veterans Day parades
|scheduling    = 
|date          = November 11{{efn|"Federal law (5 U.S.C. 6103) establishes the public holidays ... for Federal employees. Please note that most Federal employees work on a Monday through Friday schedule. For these employees, when a holiday falls on a nonworkday—Saturday or Sunday—the holiday usually is observed on Monday (if the holiday falls on Sunday) or Friday (if the holiday falls on Saturday)." {{Cite web |title=Federal Holidays |url=https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/federal-holidays/ |access-date=January 15, 2022 |publisher= [[US Office of Personnel Management]] |language=en}}}}
|firsttime     = {{start date and age|df=yes|1954}}
|mdy           = yes
|duration      = 1 day
|frequency     = Annual
|relatedto     = {{unbulleted indent list
|[[Armistice Day]]
|[[Remembrance Day]]}}
}}

'''Veterans Day''' (originally known as '''Armistice Day''') is a [[federal holidays in the United States|federal holiday in the United States]] observed annually on November 11, for honoring [[Veteran|military veterans]] of the [[United States Armed Forces]].{{efn|Those who were discharged under conditions other than dishonorable.}}<ref>{{cite web |title=U.S.C. Title 38 – Veterans' Benefits |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2011-title38/html/USCODE-2011-title38-partI.htm |website=govinfo.gov |publisher=U.S. Government Publishing Office |access-date=October 4, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=5 Facts to Know About Veterans Day |url=https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/story/Article/1675470/5-facts-to-know-about-veterans-day/ |publisher=U.S. Department of Defense |access-date= October 4, 2019}}</ref> It coincides with holidays in several countries, including [[Armistice Day]] and [[Remembrance Day]], which also occur on the anniversary of the end of [[World War I]].<ref name=":0" /> Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 when the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|Armistice with Germany]] went into effect. At the urging of major U.S. veteran organizations,{{efn|See [[:Category:American veterans' organizations]] for notable U.S. veteran groups.}} Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.<ref name= VAhistory />

Veterans Day is distinct from [[Memorial Day]], a U.S. public holiday in May: Veterans Day commemorates the service of all U.S. veterans, while the older Memorial Day, which grew out of Civil War commemorations, specifically honors those who have died while in military service.<ref name="kelber">{{cite news| title=Today is not Veterans Day| url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/parenting/homefront/bal-memorial-day-vs-veterans-day-20120528,0,1402423.story| date=May 28, 2012| last=Kelber| first=Sarah Kickler| work=[[The Baltimore Sun]]| access-date=October 21, 2013| archive-date=October 21, 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021211411/http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/parenting/homefront/bal-memorial-day-vs-veterans-day-20120528,0,1402423.story| url-status=dead}}</ref> Another military holiday that also occurs in May, [[Armed Forces Day#United States|Armed Forces Day]], honors those currently serving in the U.S. military. Additionally, [[Women Veterans Day]] is recognized by a growing number of U.S. states that specifically honor women who have served in the U.S. military.

==History==
On November 11, 1919, President [[Woodrow Wilson]] issued a message to his countrymen on the first Armistice Day, in which he expressed what he felt the day meant to Americans:

{{quote|
A year ago today our enemies laid down their arms in accordance with an armistice which rendered them impotent to renew hostilities, and gave to the world an assured opportunity to reconstruct its shattered order and to work out in peace a new and more just set of international relations. The soldiers and people of the European Allies had fought and endured for more than four years to uphold the barrier of civilization against the aggressions of armed force. We ourselves had been in the conflict something more than a year and a half.

With splendid forgetfulness of mere personal concerns, we remodeled our industries, concentrated our financial resources, increased our agricultural output, and assembled a great army, so that at the last our power was a decisive factor in the victory. We were able to bring the vast resources, material and moral, of a great and free people to the assistance of our associates in Europe who had suffered and sacrificed without limit in the cause for which we fought.

Out of this victory there arose new possibilities of political freedom and economic concert. The war showed us the strength of great nations acting together for high purposes, and the victory of arms foretells the enduring conquests which can be made in peace when nations act justly and in furtherance of the common interests of men.

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 nations.<ref name = cmh>{{cite web| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=WYg_AQAAMAAJ&q=%22a+year+ago+today+our+enemies+laid+down+their+arms%22&pg=PA8803| title = Supplement to the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Covering the Second Term of Woodrow Wilson, March 4, 1917, to March 4, 1921 | date = 11 November 2015| publisher = Bureau of National Literature| via= Google Books}}</ref>}}

The United States Congress adopted a resolution on June 4, 1926, requesting that President [[Calvin Coolidge]] issue annual proclamations calling for the observance of November 11 with appropriate ceremonies.<ref name = cmh/> A Congressional Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U.S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made 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{{'"}}.<ref name= VAhistory />

[[File:Veterans Day parade in Baltimore, 2016.jpg|thumb|[[United States Army|U.S. Army]] and [[United States Air Force|Air Force]] [[Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps]] cadets march during a Veterans Day parade in [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]], 2016.]]
In 1945, [[World War II]] veteran Raymond Weeks from [[Birmingham, Alabama]], had the idea of a national holiday that would honor all war veterans, living and dead, to be celebrated on Armistice Day. Weeks led a delegation to Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, who supported the idea of National Veterans Day. Weeks led the first national celebration in 1947 in Alabama and annually until his death in 1985. President Reagan honored Weeks at the White House with the Presidential Citizenship Medal in 1982 as the driving force for the national holiday. [[Elizabeth Dole]], who prepared the briefing for President Reagan, determined Weeks as the "Father of Veterans Day".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://unrememberedhistory.com/2016/11/11/raymond-weeks-the-father-of-veterans-day/ | title=Raymond Weeks: The Father of Veterans Day | publisher=| website= UnrememberedHistory.com | first=Ken | last=Zurski | date=November 11, 2016 | access-date=November 9, 2017}}</ref>

U.S. Representative [[Edward Herbert Rees|Ed Rees]] from [[Emporia, Kansas]], presented a bill establishing the holiday through Congress. President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], also from Kansas, signed the bill into law on May 26, 1954. It had been eight and a half years since Weeks held his first Armistice Day celebration for all veterans.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Carter |first=Julie |title=Where Veterans Day began |journal=VFW Magazine |date=November 2003 |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0LIY/is_3_91/ai_110734282 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120714045910/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0LIY/is_3_91/ai_110734282 |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 14, 2012 |publisher=Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States}}</ref>

Congress amended the bill on June 1, 1954, replacing "Armistice" with "Veterans", and it has been known as Veterans Day since.<ref name=VAhistory>{{cite web |url=http://www1.va.gov/opa/vetsday/vetdayhistory.asp |title=History of Veterans Day |publisher=United States Department of Veterans Affairs |date=November 26, 2007 |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20060728130527/http://www1.va.gov/opa/vetsday/vetdayhistory.asp |archive-date=July 28, 2006 |url-status=dead |access-date=November 6, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |access-date=November 1, 2007 |url=http://www.history.army.mil/html/reference/holidays/vetsday/vetshist.html |title=The History of Veterans Day |website= history.army.mil |publisher=United States Army Center of Military History (CMH) |date=October 3, 2003 |archive-date=November 12, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111112073053/http://www.history.army.mil/html/reference/holidays/vetsday/vetshist.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The National Veterans Award was also created in 1954. Congressman Rees of Kansas received the first National Veterans Award in [[Birmingham, Alabama]], for his support in offering legislation to make Veterans Day a federal holiday.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-11-11|title=VETERANS DAY – November 11, 2021|url=https://nationaltoday.com/veterans-day/|access-date=2021-03-17|website=NationalToday.com | publisher= |language=en-US}}</ref>

Although originally scheduled for celebration on November 11 of every year, starting in 1971 in accordance with the [[Uniform Monday Holiday Act]], Veterans Day was moved to the fourth Monday of October (October 25, 1971;<ref name=oldvets>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=g-9LAAAAIBAJ&pg=6104%2C3665371 |work=Spokesman-Review |location=Spokane, Washington |agency=Associated Press |title=Older vets fight to keep Nov. 11 Armistice Day |date=November 11, 1971 |page=14, Northtown }}</ref> October 23, 1972; October 22, 1973; October 28, 1974; October 27, 1975; October 25, 1976, and October 24, 1977). In 1978, it was moved back to its original celebration on November 11. While the legal holiday remains on November 11, if that date happens to be on a Saturday or Sunday, then federal government employees and a number of organizations will instead take the day off on the adjacent Friday or Monday, respectively.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/federal-holidays/ |title=Federal Holidays |publisher= U.S. Office of Personnel Management |website= opm.gov |access-date=2021-11-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110220110/https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/federal-holidays/ |archive-date=November 10, 2021 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

==Observance==
[[File:72-901-1 HR7786 Veterans Day June 1 1954.jpg|thumb|Eisenhower signing of HR7786, June 1, 1954, this ceremony changed Armistice Day to Veterans Day.]]
Because it is a [[Federal holidays in the United States|federal holiday]], some American workers and many students have Veterans Day off from work or school. When Veterans Day falls on a Saturday then either Saturday or the preceding Friday may be designated as the holiday, whereas if it falls on a Sunday it is typically observed on the following Monday. When it falls on the weekend many private companies offer it as a floating holiday where employees can choose some other day.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}} A [[Society for Human Resource Management]] poll in 2010 found that 21 percent of employers planned to observe the holiday in 2011.<ref>{{cite web |title=2011 Holiday Schedules SHRM Poll| website= shrm.org |publisher= Society for Human Resource Management |date=November 4, 2010 |url= http://www.shrm.org/Research/SurveyFindings/Articles/Pages/2011HolidaySchedules.aspx |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101204201227/http://www.shrm.org/Research/SurveyFindings/Articles/Pages/2011HolidaySchedules.aspx |url-status= dead |archive-date= December 4, 2010 }}</ref>  

Legally, two minutes of silence is recommended to be observed at 2:11{{nbsp}}pm [[Eastern Standard Time]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=[USC02] 36 USC 145: Veterans Day|url=https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title36-section145&num=0&edition=prelim |website= uscode.house.gov | publisher= U.S. House of Representatives |access-date=2021-03-05}}</ref> 

Non-essential federal government offices are closed. No mail is delivered. All federal workers are paid for the holiday; those who are required to work on the holiday sometimes receive holiday pay for that day in addition to their wages.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Castro|first=Danilo|date=2019-11-11|title=Is Sam's Club Open or Closed on Veterans Day 2019?|url=https://heavy.com/entertainment/2019/11/is-sams-club-open-closed-veterans-day-2019/|access-date=2021-03-17|website=Heavy.com|language=en-US}}</ref>

===Armistice Day===
In his Armistice Day address to Congress, Wilson was sensitive to the psychological toll of the lean War years: "Hunger does not breed reform; it breeds madness," he remarked.<ref name="Smith 2007 290">{{cite book |title= The Oxford companion to American food and drink |last= Smith|first= Andrew F.|year= 2007|publisher= Oxford University Press, Inc|location= New York|isbn= 978-0-19-530796-2|page= 290|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=AoWlCmNDA3QC&q=armistice+day&pg=PT317|access-date=November 12, 2010}}</ref> As Veterans Day and the birthday of the [[United States Marine Corps]] (November 10, 1775) are only one day apart, that branch of the Armed Forces customarily observes both occasions as a 96-hour liberty period.{{cn|date=November 2019}}

[[Election Day (United States)|Election Day]] is a regular working day, while Veterans Day, which typically falls the following week, is a federal holiday. The National Commission on Federal Election Reform called for the holidays to be merged, so citizens can have a day off to vote. They state this as a way to honor voting by exercising democratic rights.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Sutter|first1=John D.|title=Election Day should be a federal holiday|url=http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/12/opinion/ctl-election-holiday/|access-date=October 20, 2016|work=CNN.com |date=November 12, 2012}}</ref>

===Spelling of Veterans Day===
While the holiday is commonly printed as ''Veteran's Day'' or ''Veterans' Day'' in calendars and advertisements, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs website states that the [[attributive noun|attributive]] (no apostrophe) rather than the [[possessive case]] is the official spelling "because it is not a day that 'belongs' to veterans, it is a day for honoring all veterans."<ref name=":0">{{cite web| url= http://www.va.gov/opa/vetsday/vetday_faq.asp |title= Veterans Day Frequently Asked Questions| website= va.gov | publisher= Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs| date= July 20, 2015 |access-date= November 8, 2015}}</ref>

==See also==
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* {{anl|Anzac Day}}
* {{anl|National Independence Day (Poland)}}
* {{anl|National Vietnam War Veterans Day}}
* {{anl|Remembrance poppy}}
* [[Social history of soldiers and veterans in the United States]]
* {{anl|St. Martin's Day}}
* {{anl|Volkstrauertag}}
}}

== Explanatory notes ==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
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* [https://department.va.gov/veterans-day/ Official site] United States Department of Veterans Affairs
* {{usc|5|6103}} (Federal holidays)
* {{Internet Archive author|name=Veterans Day}}
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{{US Federal Holidays}}
{{US Holidays}}
{{Subject bar|portal1=1950s|portal2=Holidays|portal3=United States|commons=y|commons-search=Category:Veterans Day|wikt=y|wikt-search=Veterans Day|s=y|s-search=Armistice Day}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Veterans Day}}
[[Category:1919 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Aftermath of World War I in the United States]]
[[Category:Annual events in the United States]]
[[Category:Armistice Day]]
[[Category:Federal holidays in the United States]]
[[Category:Holidays related to World War I]]
[[Category:November observances]]
[[Category:Public holidays in the United States]]
[[Category:United States flag flying days]]
[[Category:Recurring events established in 1919]]
[[Category:Veterans' affairs in the United States]]
[[Category:Veterans days]]