Veterans Day By The Numbers

Today is Veterans Day . . . here are five facts and figures you should know!

1. Veterans Day didn't start until 1954. November 11th used to be Armistice Day, marking the anniversary of the end of World War One. PRESIDENT EISENHOWER changed it to Veterans Day to honor veterans of ALL wars. Which, to me, was a good move. That way we can really appreciate everybody.

2. There are about 21.2 million military veterans in the U.S., and 1.6 million of them are women.

3. The Vietnam War has the most living veterans, with approximately 7.4 million. The two Gulf Wars have 5.4 million, the Korean War has 2.3 million, World War Two has 1.6 million, and 5.3 million veterans served during peace time. Of course these numbers change as the years go on, but that's the closest approximation I found.

4. There are no surviving U.S. World War One veterans. Frank Buckles was the last one he died over five years ago at 110 years old.

5. Alaska has the largest percentage of veterans, with 13.6% of the adult population. Montana is second, at 12.7%.

So make sure you take a second and thank a veteran today. Socially distanced, of course. You can give a salute or something as you walk by. You don't need to shake hands. With everything going on this year, I'm pretty sure they'll understand.

Or even better, you could just holler "Thank you for your service" from like, ten feet away. That works, right? Right.

Thankfully yours,
Behka