Celebrating Veterans Day

The U.S. military has six branches of service: the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Space Force. Today is Veterans Day, and on behalf of the Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, and the PTC community, we extend gratitude to every person affiliated with any military branch. No other human sacrifice today exemplifies the love for one's country. The freedoms the U.S. and many other countries benefit from are because of your commitment, dedication, and selflessness.

History of Veterans Day

World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” - officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”

Soldiers of the 353rd Infantry near a church at Stenay, Meuse in France, wait for the end of hostilities.?This photo was taken at 10:58 a.m., on November 11,1918, two minutes before the armistice ending World War I went into effect.?In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: "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…"

Veterans Day is a U.S. legal holiday dedicated to American veterans of all wars, and Veterans Day 2022 will occur on Friday, November 11. In 1918, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, was declared between the Allied nations and Germany in World War I, then known as “the Great War.”?

?Veterans Day 2022: Founding, Fact & Meaning - HISTORY

History of Veterans Day - Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs (va.gov)