Top of page

Our Veterans

Share this post:

Tomb of Unknown Soldier 11/11/1926
Tomb of Unknown Soldier 11/11/1926

In 1926 Congress passed a resolution for an annual observance of the end of World War I. Tomorrow, November 11, was initially known as “Armistice Day” and became a national holiday in 1938. The name was changed to Veterans Day by President Eisenhower in 1954 as a way to honor all who served in American wars.

Prompted by the U.S. Census Bureau’s “Facts for Features” news release for Veteran’s Day, we’d like to take this opportunity to share a few veteran related highlights from the upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2010.

In the United States in 2008 there were 23.2 million military veterans of which 1.8 million were female.

The number of veterans over the age of 64 in 2008 is 9.2 million and the number younger than 35 is 1.9 million.

The 2008 American Community Survey reveals that there are 10.4 million veterans between the ages of 18 – 65 in the labor force in 2008.

The 2002 Survey of Business Owners reported that 14.5% of those responding to the survey were veterans, and 7% of those reported they were disabled as the result of injury incurred or aggravated during active military service.

For more facts, check out the Facts for Features: Veterans Day 2009: Nov. 11 found on the U.S. Census Bureau website.

You may also be interested in The Star’s and Stripes from the Library’s American Memory collection or our Veterans History Project. If you would like additional information, please don’t hesitate to Ask a Librarian.

Comments

Add a Comment

This blog is governed by the general rules of respectful civil discourse. You are fully responsible for everything that you post. The content of all comments is released into the public domain unless clearly stated otherwise. The Library of Congress does not control the content posted. Nevertheless, the Library of Congress may monitor any user-generated content as it chooses and reserves the right to remove content for any reason whatever, without consent. Gratuitous links to sites are viewed as spam and may result in removed comments. We further reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to remove a user's privilege to post content on the Library site. Read our Comment and Posting Policy.


Required fields are indicated with an * asterisk.