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Veterans Day

Soldiers mark Veterans Day with a wreath-laying ceremony in Afghanistan

(MUSIC: “Over There”)

DOUG JOHNSON: Our listener question this week is from China. Albert Lee wants to know about Veterans Day. November eleventh is a day Americans honor men and women who have served in the United States armed forces.

World War One ended at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Germany surrendered at eleven o'clock in the morning on November eleventh, nineteen eighteen. The next year, President Woodrow Wilson signed a document declaring November eleventh as Armistice Day in the United States. It would be a day to honor the men and women who had served in the American armed forces during the war.

The United States now has more than twenty-three million veterans. The term "veteran" is not just for soldiers who have served in wars.

It describes anyone who has ever been in the military. On November eleventh, communities across the United States hold ceremonies to observe Veterans Day. Military bands play. Veterans march in parades. The president and other public officials give speeches.

Congress wanted the nation to hear the stories of its older veterans. Many veterans have reached old age. Each day, more than one thousand veterans die. So, in two thousand, Congress created a program to keep these memories alive for future Americans. It is called the Veterans History Project.