Veterans Day is the day set aside to thank and honor all those who served honorably in the military - in wartime or peacetime. There are over 25 million veterans living in the United States, and over 500,000 in Tennessee.
President Woodrow Wilson created the holiday in 1919 on the first anniversary of the 1918 armistice that ended World War I. It was known as Armistice Day. The day was to be marked with a two minute silence at 11:00 am followed by parades and celebrations.
In 1921 Congress passed legislation to establish the the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was opened with the burial of an unknown soldier from World War I in the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. on Armistice Day.
November 11 became an official national holiday in the United States in 1938. In 1954 the name was changed to Veterans Day to honor those who had served in all U.S. wars. Ceremonies are held each year at the Tomb of the Unknowns, and floral tributes are placed on the graves of service men and women and at memorials throughout the country. Naturalization ceremonies have come to be an important part of the day’s activities.
Here are a list of resources in the library if you would like to learn more :http://bit.ly/veteransdaybooks
Some website links of interest (and our sources for this post)
http://www.history.army.mil/html/reference/holidays/vetsday/vetshist.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/627065/Veterans-Day
http://www.loc.gov/vets/thewar.html
http://www.tennesseeanytime.org/gov/veterans/
http://tn.gov/veteran/
Life magazine Veterans Day photo Album and Time Magazine photo essay
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