Your Health, Wealth, Happiness, and Spirit is proud to celebrate Veterans Day, a tribute to all Americans who have served/are currently serving our country during peace or wartime. In honor of these heroes, we’ve put together a list of 5 interesting facts you may not have known about the holiday.

1: Veterans Day does NOT have an apostrophe

A lot of people think it’s “Veteran’s Day” or “Veterans’ Day,” but they’re wrong. Shocking right? The holiday is not a day that “belongs” to one veteran or to specific multiple veterans, which is what an apostrophe implies. It’s a day that honors ALL veterans— so no apostrophe needed. 

2: Veterans Day Name and Date

Veterans Day occurs on November 11 every year in the United States in honor of the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” of 1918 that signaled the end of World War I, or Armistice Day. Armistice Day was changed to Veterans Day in 1954 by President Eisenhower.

3: Current Veteran Statistics

Here are some facts about the veteran population of the United States:

18.2 million living veterans served during at least one war as of 2018.

9% of veterans are women.

7 million veterans served during the Vietnam War.

3 million veterans have served in support of the War on Terrorism.

The 16 million Americans who served during World War II, about 496,777 were still alive as of 2018.

Connecticut was home to the highest percentage of World War II veterans as of 2018 at 7.1%

2 million veterans served during the Korean War.

As of 2017, the top three states with the highest percentage of Veterans were Alaska, Maine and Montana, respectively.

4: Other countries celebrate Veterans Day in their own way!

Canada and Australia both call November 11 “Remembrance Day.” Canada’s observance is pretty similar to our own. In Australia, the day is more akin to our Memorial Day. Great Britain calls it “Remembrance Day,” too, but observes it on the Sunday closest to November 11.

 

5: Understanding PTSD

While Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) extends far beyond the military, the problem is especially acute among war veterans. 

According to the American Psychiatric Association, PTSD is defined as “Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that may occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event”. “People with PTSD have intense, disturbing, thoughts and feelings related to their experience that last long after the traumatic event has ended. They may relive the event through flashbacks or nightmares; they may feel sadness, fear or anger; and they may feel detached or estranged from other people.” More than 300,000 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been diagnosed with PTSD. 

 Best ways to support someone with PTSD:

Accept the individual and their condition without judgment or criticism.

Commit to them and your relationship with them, building trust and safety.

Empathise – the emotional toll of trauma has a deep impact.

Grounding – taking slow, deep breaths and describing the environment reduces dissociation.

Reassure them and point out their capabilities, strengths, positive qualities and past successes.

Resist telling them “It will all be okay”, or “It could be worse”, or other unhelpful clichés – it is what it is.

Support – respect their boundaries while encouraging communication, contact, and connection with others.

Understand their behavior may seem irrational or volatile, but remember that it is triggered by the trauma, not you.

Watch for signs of anger or agitation and diffuse the situation before emotions erupt.