Spotlight on Veterans Day: A Little List of Surprising Facts

Veterans Day is a huge celebration for a lot of people, and it can be hard to include the whole family in the day's events. Let me explain.

I absolutely get that it's a very important day that can be very serious, but... for some of you with small children, it's just not time yet to have that conversation. So, how can you include the little ones in a way that makes it feel like something they can be a part of, without going into all the....well. You know, the parts that we as adults have to be aware of and study.

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Well, I find one way to get closer to where you want to be with that conversation is by sharing little facts about the holiday. You know, simple, yet truthful facts about Veterans Day that will help your kid understand a little better when you go to visit Grandpa.

Seven Veteran's Day Facts That are Okay To Share With Kids

There's no apostrophe.

There is often confusion about the punctuation. The federal holiday is not a day that “belongs” to one veteran (Veteran’s) or multiple veterans (Veterans’), which is what a possessive apostrophe would signify. It is a day for honoring all veterans, so no apostrophe is used.

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There Are Over 15 Million War Veterans Living in the U.S.

That's according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. It includes 2.2 million Veterans from Korea, 7.3 million from Vietnam, 5 million from Afghanistan and Iraq, and 500,000 from the Persian Gulf War.

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Veteran's Day Was Originally Called "Armistice Day."

November 11th, 1919 was the first anniversary of the end of World War One. And Armistice Day was originally supposed to honor veterans of THAT war. But now it extends to ALL veterans. Congress made it a national holiday in 1938, then renamed it Veterans Day in 1954.

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"God Bless America" Debuted on the Radio for Veteran's Day in 1938.

Irving Berlin wrote it in 1918, but it was another 20 years before he changed the lyrics and turned it into the version WE all know. It actually debuted as part of an Armistice Day radio special on November 10th, the day BEFORE Veteran's Day.

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The Official Symbol of Veterans Day is the Poppy.

In 1918, a woman in Georgia named Moina Belle Michael read a John McCrae poem called "In Flanders Fields", and it inspired her to wear red poppies as a way of remembering. The poem includes the line, "In Flanders fields the poppies blow / Between the crosses row on row." (Flanders Fields is a World War One battleground and cemetery in Belgium.)

Steven Wynn

The Motto of the Department of Veterans Affairs Is a Quote from Abraham Lincoln.

The motto is, quote, "To care for him who shall have borne the battle." It's from the final paragraph of Lincoln's second inaugural address.

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Alabama held the first known veterans celebration.

The first celebration referred to as Veterans Day was held in Birmingham, Alabama, on Nov. 11, 1947. A World War II veteran named Raymond Weeks, a native of the city, organized the event, which included a parade and other festivities. He was awarded the Presidential Citizenship Medal by President Ronald Reagan in 1982.

How will your family celebrate Veterans Day this year?

Factingly yours,
Behka