5 Interesting Facts About Veterans Day
The Meaning and Dates for honoring those who served have changed
My Dad, a WWII Veteran
Tuesday, November 11, 2025
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Today, November 11, is Veterans Day in the United States. Unlike Memorial Day (the last Monday of May), which honors only members of the Armed Services who died in action while deployed, and Armed Forces Day, which celebrates all people currently serving in all six branches of the military, Veterans Day honors all who served, whether living or deceased.
Here are five interesting facts about Veterans Day:
“Veterans Day” does not have an apostrophe. This is because it is not a day that belongs to veterans, but a day that honors them. Canada, Australia, France, and Belgium also observe November 11 as “Remembrance Day.”
Veterans Day was initially called “Armistice Day” because it marked the one-year anniversary of the temporary cessation of fighting between the Allied Nations and Germany during World War I. That armistice went into effect on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.
President Dwight Eisenhower officially changed the holiday from Armistice Day to Veterans Day to honor all veterans, rather than the end of a particular war.
Veterans Day became a federal holiday by an act of Congress in 1938. A few times, the date was moved to be “more convenient” (like a date that would make it a 3-day weekend), but in 1975, President Gerald Ford signed a law returning the holiday permanently to November 11.
Arlington National Cemetery, located in Arlington, Virginia, is the final resting place of over 400,000 military service personnel and their families, including President John F. Kennedy, a World War II veteran. Each Veterans Day at exactly 11:00 am, a military guard or the president of the United States (as the civilian commander-in-chief), or a representative of the POTUS, lays a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Honoring my beloved late father, who was also a veteran
My Dad, Stratford S. Hilliard (1920 - 2009), served in the United States Air Force during World War II. When he and my mom bought their first home in 1953, Daddy used his G.I. benefits to secure a favorable mortgage. Not many Black people were allowed to utilize their benefits because of rampant racism in the banking industry.
In 1972, along with one of his best friends, whose daughter is legally blind, Dad started the Detroit Renaissance Chapter of the Lions Club, the social service organization responsible for the Leader Dogs for the Blind program.
In 1973, my dad and his friend traveled to Hawai’i for the international Lions Club Convention. While they were there, a white man who was also at the convention ran up to them and said, “Excuse me, I have a 12-year-old biracial grandson who rarely gets to see Black men in leadership positions. Could I bring him here to meet you?” And that’s how my dad met little Barry Obama and became one of the first Black male role models for the first African American president.
Daddy died on February 2, 2009, about two weeks after the presidential inauguration. At his funeral, when the young soldier knelt down next to my mom and presented her with Daddy’s flag because he was a veteran and said, “On behalf of the President of the United States…” there wasn’t a dry eye in the church because the president was an adult Barack Obama!
Several of my uncles and cousins were also veterans. One of my uncles was a member of the esteemed Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, and one of my cousins was a P.O.W. during the Vietnam War. He was finally released and came home safely.
Regardless of how we may feel about wars in general, it is important to honor those who served, especially since there was a mandatory military draft until 1973, and now everyone in the military is a volunteer.
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