On Veterans Day, Americans honor all living military veterans, including the many working moms who are veterans of military service. Indeed, the 1.8 million female veterans are more likely to work full-time than their civilian counterparts. Here are some other Veterans Day facts you may not know.
• Veterans Day is always observed on Nov. 11 with speeches and parades across the U.S. The holiday began as Armistice Day on Nov. 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I.
• In 1926, Congress passed a resolution for an annual observance.
• In 1938, Nov. 11 became a national holiday.
• I n 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation changing the name to Veterans Day in order to honor veterans of all American wars.
• There were 23.2 million military veterans in the U.S. in 2008. Of those, 1.8 million were female, 2.3 million were black, 9.2 million were 65 and older and 1.9 million were younger than 35.
• A third of all living veterans served during the Vietnam War. In 2008, there were 7.8 million Vietnam-era veterans. (1964-1975) 5.2 million Gulf War veterans. Of these, 16% were women. (August 1990 to present)
• There were 2.6 million World War II veterans (1941-1945), 2.8 million veterans of the Korean War (1950-1953) and 50,000 veterans of both the Vietnam and Gulf War eras.
• 15.8 million Veterans voted in the 2008 presidential election. That’s 71% of all veterans, compared with 63% of non-veterans.
