Published: November 9, 2022
This Year’s Theme is “Honor.”
"Today, we honor generations of patriots who have earned the title of “American veteran” — a badge of courage that unites the finest group of former service members the world has ever known. With their selfless sacrifice, our Armed Forces have forged and defended the very idea of America — a promise of freedom and equality, democracy and justice, possibility and hope. We owe them an incredible debt that can never be fully repaid."
In 1954, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, the 83rd U.S. Congress amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting the word "Veterans.” On June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.
In 1968, the Uniforms Holiday Bill, Public Law 90-363 (82 Stat. 250) was signed, ensuring three-day weekends for federal employees by celebrating four national holidays on Mondays: Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Columbus Day. Many states did not agree with this decision and continued to celebrate the holiday on their original dates. With much confusion, the first Veterans Day under the new law was observed on October 25, 1971.
On September 20, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed Public Law 94-79 (89 Stat. 479), a law which returned the annual observance of Veterans Day to its original date of November 11th, beginning in 1978. Since then, the Veterans Day holiday has been observed on November 11th.
This year also marks the 40th Anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall being being erected. On July 1, 1980, Congress authorized the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc. to erect a memorial on two acres next to the Lincoln Memorial.
A five-day ceremony “National Salute to Vietnam Veterans" began on November 10, 1982, with the memorial dedication on November 13, 1982. The ceremony included reading of the names at the National Cathedral and a parade. Today there are additional fixed replicas of the memorial in other states as well as traveling replicas that simulate the experience of visiting the Wall.
On October 27, 2000, the United States Congress signed into law the Veterans’ Oral History Project Act creating the Veteran’s History Project of the Library of Congress, American Folklife Center. It is an ongoing oral history program responsible for collecting and preserving interviews of American wartime veterans.
114
Stat. 1447 - Veterans' Oral History Project Act
Read more about legislation related to this project including the Congressional Research Service's summary on CONGRESS.GOV.
Find out more about this project and how you can participate by recording and submitting veterans’ stories on the Library of Congress, American Folklife Center’s website.
Related GovInfo Resources
- 36 U.S.C. 145 - Veterans Day
- 68 Stat. 168 - An Act to honor veterans on the 11th day of November of each year, a day dedicated to world peace
- Explore Documents About the First World War
- Armed Forces Day
- 75th Anniversary of D-Day and Invasion of Normandy
- National POW/MIA Recognition Day
- National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
- Army University Press Publications
Additional Article Sources and Resources
- History of Veterans Day (Department of Veterans Affairs)
- Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Department of Defense)
- The Wall of Faces - A page dedicated to honoring and remembering every person whose name is inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in D.C. (Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund)
- The Government Publishing Office's online bookstore's collection of publications produced by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
- Ben's Guide - Learning Adventures, "Vietnam Veterans Memorial: 1982" (Government Publishing Office) Ben's Guide to the U.S. Government, a service of the Government Publishing Office (GPO), is designed to inform students, parents, and educators about the Federal Government, which issues the publications and information products disseminated by the GPO’s Federal Depository Library Program.