Veterans Day

To our brave men and women who defend our freedoms:
Happy Veterans Day!

History of Veterans Day

World War I – known at the time as "The Great War" - officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”

Facts about veterans living in Washington state
Number of veterans in our state: 640,000

Number of Washington veterans using GI Bill education benefits: 12,410

Number of veterans from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan seeking post-conflict care treatment in 2008: 6,301

• Puget Sound: 4,479
• Spokane: 1,166
• Walla Walla: 656

Number of headstones and markers provided for graves of Washington veterans and survivors in 2008: 5,070 

National cemetery burials in Washington, 2008:

• Tahoma: 2,667

 
Source: Department of Veterans Affairs