Veterans Day is a national holiday celebrated in the United States that started in November of 1919. Veterans Day is a designated holiday celebrating and honoring the men and women who have fought for the freedom of the United States.

    World War I ended in June of 1918, when the Treaty of Versailles was signed. However, the war ceased seven months earlier when Germany agreed on an armistice with the allied nations during the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. From that day forward, November 11, 1918 was regarded as the day that put an end to “the war to end all wars.”

    After the end of the first World War, President Woodrow Wilson declared that November 11 be the official date of Armistice Day. “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations,” said President Wilson.  

    According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, “An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday—a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as “Armistice Day.””

    To this day, Veterans Day is a holiday celebrated by many in honor of American soldiers. Veterans Day will forever be a holiday to remember those who have fought long and hard for American freedom and independence. Without Veterans, the United States would not be the democracy that it is today.