Veterans Day — November 11th
Veterans Day, November 11th, was initially known as Armistice Day because the major hostilities of WWI formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.
In the WWI poem, “In Flanders Fields,” the opening lines refer to poppies as the first blooms to grow in the soil on soldiers’ graves in Flanders, Belgium. As such, the National American Legion adopted poppies as the official symbol of remembrance in 1920.
Armistice Day became an annual observance in 1926, by a Congressional resolution, and a legal holiday on May 13, 1938, by a Congressional Act, as a “day dedicated to the cause of world peace.” It was renamed Veterans Day in 1954 in response to the urging of veteran organizations and is a US federal holiday.
How is Veterans Day different from Memorial Day or Armed Forces Day? Armed Forces Day honors those currently serving in the US military; Memorial Day honors those who perished while serving; and Veterans Day celebrates the service of all US military vets, living and dead.
Some basic Veteran stats: 17.42 Million (2021), 9.62% women (2019), and Median age 65 (2018). The more sobering statistics are the unseen effects of war: PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and suicide.
The governmental act recommends two minutes of silence be observed at 2:11 PM EST.
PS. And for the writers in my reading audience, the Department of Veterans Affairs states the scribe should use no apostrophe in the spelling “because it is not a day that ‘belongs’ to veterans, it is a day honoring all veterans” (attributive rather than possessive case).
