Veterans Day this year marks the end of World War I, which occurred 100 years ago, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 -- Nov. 11, 1918. To commemorate this significance, the Veterans Affairs Department of the U.S. has chosen the theme of "The War to End All Wars" for the 2018 Veterans Day Poster to feature a poppy and barbed wire.
Did you know that the official spelling is Veterans Day -- no apostrophe -- although it is commonly printed as Veteran's Day in calendars and advertisements? The United States Department of Veterans Affairs removes the possessive apostrophe "because it is not a day that 'belongs' to veterans, it is a day for honoring all veterans."
Other Veterans Day facts (as of 2016) include:
• 18.5 million living veterans who served during at least one war;
• 771 thousand veterans who served during World War II;
• 1.6 million veterans who served during the Korean War;
• 6.8 million veterans who served during the Vietnam War;
• 7.1 million veterans who served during the Persian Gulf War;
• 4.4 million veterans who served in peacetime only;
• 1.6 million veterans who are women;
• 4 million veterans who live with "service-connected" disabilities;
• 40,000 veterans who are homeless.
Three states have more than one million veterans among their population: California (1.8 million), Florida (1.6 million) and Texas (1.7 million)
Every year the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs runs an official Veterans Day ceremony held at Arlington National Cemetery around the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and this ceremony features a speech from a high-ranking government official. President Bill Clinton spoke at the ceremony every year he was in office. He has given the most Veterans Day speeches and is the only president to speak every year of his presidency.
Community on 11/07/2018