WASHINGTON -- Americans will honor 25 million U.S. veterans of wars and conflicts on Veterans Day next Thursday. Veterans Day, proclaimed by Congress in 1926, originated as Armistice Day Nov. 11, 1918, to commemorate the end of World War I.
Armistice Day became Veterans Day in 1954 as a result of legislation signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The day was renamed Veterans Day to honor all who served the United States in wars or conflicts.
The federal legal holiday, observed on the fourth Monday in October during the mid-1970s, returned to Nov. 11 in 1978.
Of the 25 million U.S. military veterans 2.4 million are black and 1.7 million are women, reported the U.S. Census.
Women accounted for 16 percent of Persian Gulf War veterans, 5 percent of World War II vets, 3 percent of Vietnam veterans and 2 percent of Korean War vets. /font>
The federal government spent $57 billion for veterans' benefits in fiscal year 2003.
