Tuesday, November 11, 2025

Question: What year was the first Veterans Day commemoration held?

Answer: In 1919. Known then as “Armistice Day,” it marked the end of fighting in World War I exactly one year earlier.

President Woodrow Wilson declared: “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.”