Veterans Day is observed everyyearon November 11. This year, the 11th day of the 11th month is a Friday. Learnthe true meaning of Veterans Day and its important history—as well as 10 ways toshow vets how you appreciate the sacrifices that they havemade.
When Is VeteransDay?
Veterans Day is a federal holiday in the United States, observed officially onNovember 11, regardless of the day of the week on which itfalls.
What Does Veterans DayMean?
Veterans Day is an important day set aside to honor and show appreciation forALLwho have served in the United States military—in wartime or peacetime, living, ordeceased.
“We can’t all be heroes; someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.” —RoyRogers
In Canada, November 11 is calledRemembrance Day. This day, which is more similar toMemorial Daythan Veterans Day, honors veterans who have…
Travis Pastrana and Black Rifle Coffee Company honor America’s heroes…
Pastrana and Carapetyan are professional rally and off-road racers. (Black Rifle Coffee Co.)
Travis Pastrana is honoring America’s veterans by chasing a World War II veteran around a Texas town in a police car. But it’s all for fun, and a good cause.
The racing and stunt driver teamed up with Black Rifle Coffee Co. for a new promotional video celebrating Veterans Day.
The spot was shot on the streets of Boerne, where the veteran-owned coffee and lifestyle brand is based.
Pastrana plays Sheriff Pastrami, who is driving his Subaru Brat police car in hot pursuit of Hank, a World War II veteran portrayed by fellow off-road racer “Texas” Dave Carapetyan. Hank stole a modified Jeep Wrangler to take on a joyride after getting an unusual prescription from his doctor.
The United States Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was dedicated at Arlington National Cemetery — following a reverential selection process that spanned the Atlantic Ocean — on this day in history, Nov. 11, 1921.
The remains of the American hero buried beneath the tomb was chosen from thousands of unidentified doughboys killed in World War I and buried in France.
“Here rests in honored glory an American Soldier, Known but to God,” reads the inscription on the marble tomb.
Crypts for Unknown Soldiers from World War II and Korea were added in 1958.
“The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is Arlington National Cemetery’s most iconic memorial,” according to the U.S. Army’s online cemetery education program.
“It has stood at the heart of the cemetery, serving as a site for reflection on service, valor and sacrifice … The Unknowns represent all unidentified service members who gave their lives for the United States.”
Guarded Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Arlington Cemetery, Virginia. (Photo by John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Among the purposes of the tomb: to help give comfort to the thousands of American families who never knew the fate of their loved ones lost overseas. Instead, they can know that their loved ones’ sacrifices are remembered by the nation.
Over 60,000 American service members are still listed as Missing in Action from World War II alone, according to the federal government’s Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
It’s a somber reminder of the human devastation of that conflict.
“Here rests in honored glory an American Soldier, Known but to God.” — Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
About 20,000 other Americans were lost and remain missing in conflicts that followed, including Korea, Vietnam, Cold War, Gulf War and War on Terror. The government no longer keeps or offers a number of missing from World War I.
Impressed by efforts by France to honor a “Soldat Inconnu” — an unknown soldier — U.S. Army Brigadier G. William D. Connor proposed a similar American project to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peyton C March, on Oct. 29, 1919.
U.S. troops march during a joint full honors procession evoking the original 1921 funeral procession of a World War I unknown soldier, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Veterans Day in Arlington National Cemetery on Nov. 11, 2021 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by Jim Watson-Pool/Getty Images)
Congress approved a resolution to fund the U.S. Tomb of the Unknown Solider on March 4, 1921, to be dedicated on Armistice Day — now Veterans Day — of that year.
The bodies of four unknown US soldiers were exhumed that autumn, one each from four different American cemeteries in France: Aisne-Maine, Meuse-Argonne, Somme and St. Mihiel.
Arlington National Cemetery describes in rich and powerful details the elaborate process that brought the first Unknown Soldier back to the United States.
“Early on the morning of October 24, 1921, Maj. Robert P. Harbold of the Quartermaster Corps, aided by French and American soldiers, rearranged the [four] caskets so that each rested on a shipping case other than the one in which it had arrived.”
The Changing of The Guard ceremony is seen at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Nov. 10, 2015, at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images)
Sgt. Edward F. Younger of Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 50th Infantry, American Forces in Germany, was given the honor of choosing the Unknown Soldier, which he did by placing a spray of white roses on one of the caskets.
The Unknown Soldier was transported by caisson to the port of Le Havre and then by cruiser USS Olympia back to the United States.
“The Unknown arrived at the Washington Navy Yard on Nov. 9, 1921 … [and] lay in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. About 90,000 visitors paid their respects during the public visiting period on Nov. 10, 1921,” according to Arlington National Cemetery.
“The Unknown lay in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Nov. 10; 90,000 visitors paid their respects.”
“On November 11, 1921, the Unknown was placed on a horse-drawn caisson and carried in a procession through Washington, D.C., and across the Potomac River. A state funeral ceremony was held at Arlington National Cemetery’s new Memorial Amphitheater, and the Unknown was interred in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.”
President Warren G. Harding placed the Medal of Honor on the casket while foreign dignitaries offered their nations’ highest awards. President Harding led the nation in a two-minute moment of silence.
The tomb today is guarded 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by elite volunteer members of the 3rd US Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), headquartered in nearby Fort Myer, Virginia.
It is the oldest active-duty infantry unit in the U.S. Army, defending the nation since 1784 and protecting the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier since 1948.
Soldiers with the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as “The Old Guard,” move flowers during a centennial commemoration event at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery on Nov. 10, 2021. (Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images)
Their changing of the guard ceremony is a popular yet reverential tourist attraction, witnessed each day by visitors from across the United States and from all over the world.
“The Tomb Guards, also called Sentinels, are chosen for this prestigious and highly selective post only after rigorous training and a demanding series of examinations,” the cemetery reports.
The guards are guided by The Creed of the Sentinels.
“My dedication to this sacred duty is total and wholehearted,” the Creed begins.
It ends: “Surrounded by well-meaning crowds by day, alone in the thoughtful peace of night/This soldier will in honored Glory rest under my eternal vigilance.”
Kerry J. Byrne is a lifestyle reporter with Fox News Digital.
This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
On Veteran’s Day, America honors its former military members for their service to the nation.
Some sacrificed their lives fighting for their country. Many others are still with us, fighting battles brought on by their service or post-service that civilians cannot understand.
But Jeremy Knauff understands.
The Marine veteran had a health crisis that began nearly a decade ago that ruined his business, left him and his wife deep in debt, and almost killed him.
Knauff went from being a high-flying publicist to losing nearly all his clients and racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt trying to survive while paying for countless medical treatments in an effort to beat his illness.
He endured debilitating physical pain that took a toll not only on his body, but his mind. That coupled with financial stress led him to the point that he was concerned about the thoughts he was having: considering suicide.
One day, the thoughts became so intense that he unloaded and disassembled all his firearms, put them in a duffel bag, and alerted a buddy that the friend might need to take his guns from him at some point.
Then, while he was still in that mindset, he received a call with horrific news he will never forget.
“One of the toughest guys I ever served with ended up taking his life,” Knauff told FOX News Digital.
It was a wake-up call.
After that, Knauff started sharing with others what was going on with him. Not only people in his own everyday life, but he became very transparent on social media about what was happening. Word got around.
Jeremy Knauff has built back his business after going through a health crisis, and continues to counsel fellow veterans who face suicidal thoughts like he did.
Soon, he started getting a lot of private messages, and began counseling other veterans who reached out to talk to him because they were having similar thoughts of suicide.
“It got to the point where everybody knew that they could give out my cell phone number or my email to literally anyone who was struggling like that,” he said.
Knauff estimates that over the years he has counseled thousands of veterans.
“I don’t know exactly how many people we’ve impacted as a result of this,” he says. “But I know there’s a certain number of people who I have pulled back from suicide.”
Knauff says helping others overcome thoughts of suicide has become a mission bigger than himself, that helps him carry on.
Over the years, Knauff has built back his business, Spartan Media, but he still has physical pain. Constant systemic inflation makes him feel like he’s being electrocuted and burned at the same time.
Jeremy Knauff has built back his business, and continues to counsel fellow veterans in what he says is a calling bigger than himself.
“If you had asked me nine years ago, ‘how long can you withstand this sh*t?’ There’s no way my answer would have been nine years,” he told FOX News Digital. But he says people don’t realize what they’re capable of or able to overcome until they’re pushed into a situation where they’re forced to do it.
“I knew I was tough back then,” Knauff said. “I know I’ve gone through things that most people couldn’t get through. But having been forced into this, it’s really forced me into a much higher level of mental toughness.”
“I can’t fold because if I do all those people I helped… that was the thing that got them through,” he says, and he fears it would let those veterans down and could cause them to compromise their own will to live. “Like, boom down like dominoes at that point.”
Overdose and suicide rates among those who have served in the military is somewhere between 2 to 3 times higher than the civilian population, according to American’s Warrior Partnership.
Jeremy Knauff with fellow Marines during his time in service.
Knauff says that shows not enough is being done to address the mental health needs of current and former service members. But the answer might be in rallying veterans, who are able to help each other.
“I think it’s really just a matter of mobilizing veterans because a lot of veterans don’t realize that this is a thing, because we’ve been conditioned to just push everything down and continue on with the mission,” he says. “Mobilizing other veterans to basically look out for each other, I think, is probably going to be the most effective solution to this thing.”
“Like you’re in the field,” Knauff explained. “You’re on deployment, you’re doing whatever you’re doing, you’re looking out for the guy to your left and to your right. The same thing applies here.”
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