Veterans Day

Thursday the 11th of November

Veterans Day is an annual federal holiday in the United States that honors military veterans who have served in the United States Armed Forces. Veterans Day honors all American veterans, living and dead, but it is primarily dedicated to living veterans who have served their nation honorably in times of war or peace. It is also known as Armistice Day.

Armistice Day was established in 1919 to commemorate the first anniversary of the 1918 armistice that ended World War I. It was remembered in 1921 in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, with the burial of an unknown World War I soldier.

Similar ceremonies were held in other nations that had lost soldiers during the war. Unknown troops were buried at Westminster Abbey in London, England, and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, the previous year.

In 1938, November 11 was declared a national holiday in the United States. Veterans Day was established in 1954 to honor veterans who had served in all US wars. Each year, ceremonies are held at the Tomb of the Unknowns and flower tributes are laid on the graves of military members and at monuments around the country.

Veterans of World Wars I and II are honored on November 11 in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and France. Remembrance Sunday is commemorated on the second Sunday of November in the UK. It is customary in the United Kingdom, Commonwealth nations, and Europe to observe two minutes of silence at 11:00 a.m. on November 11, the on November 11th.

Poppies are related to World War I memorials due to John McCrae’s poem “In Flanders Fields” and in various countries, paper poppies are sold to collect funds for veteran care and worn in the lapel as a symbol of remembrance.

- Aiana Gonawela