Veterans’ Day is the holiday where people put American flags at half-mast to honor veterans. However, this holiday, and the reason for it, is less than a century old.

On November 11, 1919, a treaty was signed to end the fighting in what was then called The War to End All Wars, which we know as World War I. Armistice Day was first celebrated that year, and in years to come, around the world. Because this event happened at 11 am, essentially the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, it is one of the rare holidays, at least in America, that is generally celebrated on a specific date rather than a designated Monday.

According to http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/veterans-day-facts, “In 1968, the Uniform Holidays Bill was passed by Congress, which moved the celebration of Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October. The law went into effect in 1971, but in 1975 President Gerald Ford returned Veterans Day to November 11, due to the important historical significance of the date.”

While other countries have renamed it Remembrance Day, the United States in 1954, chose to call it Veterans’ Day in honor of all veterans, living and dead.  Moreover, while it was introduced by Congress as an official holiday in 1926, it didn’t become a national holiday in the United States until 1938. One of the main things that lead up to it was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, which led to World War II.

Locally, we celebrate this holiday with a day off of school and the city of Fairfield hosts a parade. This year, since the holiday falls on a Saturday, the Fairfield-Unified School District (FSUSD) has given its students and employees Friday, November 10, as a day off. In previous years, when November 11 falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, FSUSD created a four-day weekend, but when it falls on a Wednesday, the traditional school week is simply split with a weekday break in the middle.