The creation and timeline of Veterans DayUnited States President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11, 1919, as the first Armistice Day in commemoration of the armistice that was signed a year prior, which eventually led to the end of World War I. Observations of Armistice Day included a moment of silence at 11 a.m., the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.On Armistice Day in 1921, the first Unknown Soldier from World War I was reburied in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. The tomb is dedicated to the U.S. service members whose remains are unidentified, and is inscribed with the following: ìHere rests in honored glory An American Soldier Known but to God.îIn 1938, Armistice Day, ìdedicated to the cause of world peace,î was declared an official federal holiday in the U.S. However, after much lobbying by veteransí service organizations, the 83rd U.S. Congress amended the 1938 act declaring Armistice Day a holiday by changing the word ìArmisticeî to ìVeterans.î On June 1, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the legislation.Unknown Soldiers from World War II and the Korean War were reburied next to the first Unknown Soldier on May 30, 1958.In 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Holidays Bill, which moved commemoration of Veterans Day to the fourth Monday of October to give federal workers a three-day weekend. Effective in 1971, the date was returned to Nov. 11 in 1975, when President Gerald Ford acknowledged the confusion created by the date change and the historical significance of the original date. He signed the legislation on Sept. 25, 1975, and the change became effective in 1978.On May 28, 1984, an Unknown Soldier from the Vietnam War was reburied at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. He was identified through DNA testing in 1998 as Michael Blassie, a 24-year-old pilot who was shot down in 1972.Veteransí numbers in the U.S.
- 16.1 million living veterans served the U.S. during at least one war
- 5.2 million veterans served the U.S. during peacetime
- About 558,000 of the 16 million Americans who served during World War II are still alive
- 2 million veterans served the U.S. during the Korean War
- 7 million veterans served the U.S. during the Vietnam War
- 5.5 million veterans served the U.S. during the Persian Gulf War
