# Why Veterans Day? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 11, 2020, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-veterans-day/925338 "2020-11-11T16:57:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ac91a4/32.png) [@Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knighted_Vorpal_Sword)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-veterans-day/925338/1 "2020-11-11T16:57:14Z")
Why is today Veterans Day, and not Veteran’s Day or Veterans’ Day? (I would think Veterans’ Day is actually the best choice.) OK grammarians, enlighten me. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-veterans-day/925338/2 "2020-11-11T17:00:51Z")
It is the Day to appreciate the work of veterans and to remember those veterans who fell. It was originally Armistice Day, but as more wars happened after the War to End All Wars, the switch was made to Veterans Day. In 1918 in the “ **eleventh hour of the eleventh day** of the **eleventh** month.” The armistice to end WWI was signed. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-veterans-day/925338/3 "2020-11-11T17:03:38Z")
Why there is no apostrophe, as per [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Day#Spelling_of_Veterans_Day): > [@](#): > > While the holiday is commonly printed as _Veteran’s Day_ or _Veterans’ Day_ in calendars and advertisements, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs website states that the [attributive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attributive_noun) (no apostrophe) rather than the [possessive case](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possessive_case) is the official spelling “because it is not a day that ‘belongs’ to veterans, it is a day for honoring all veterans.” ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-veterans-day/925338/4 "2020-11-11T17:08:08Z")
Presidents’ Day Valentine’s Day St. Patrick’s Day but also, Columbus Day, not “Columbus’s Day”. Groundhog Day, not “Groundhogs’ Day” or “Groundhog’s Day”. The VA says Veterans Day is for celebrating veterans, but not belonging to veterans… I’m not sure if all the other holidays follow that convention. Main and Massachusetts even have a “Patriot’s Day”. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-veterans-day/925338/5 "2020-11-11T17:08:11Z")
Basically the same reason it isn’t Columbus’ day or Presidents’ day ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-veterans-day/925338/6 "2020-11-11T17:12:23Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > the same reason it isn’t Columbus’ day or Presidents’ day But it is “Presidents’ Day”. Well, officially it is “Washington’s Birthday”. But even when referring to it by its unofficial name, The US OPM calls it “Presidents’ Day”. [Frequently Asked Questions - OPM.gov](https://www.opm.gov/faqs/QA.aspx?fid=e64d74ab-20a3-484c-8682-d2a2b46c22da&pid=6ffc3491-db2e-450d-9442-c2ff91c898d1) ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-veterans-day/925338/7 "2020-11-11T17:14:59Z")
Damn, I checked my calendar first too. I guess they misprinted it. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-veterans-day/925338/8 "2020-11-11T17:26:13Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > In 1918 in the “ **eleventh hour of the eleventh day** of the **eleventh** month.” The armistice to end WWI was signed. Actually, the Armistice was signed at around 5:45 that morning, but it went into effect 5 hours later. To make it easy to communicate, they rounded the time off to the nearest hour. As for the OP, originally, the name was All Veterans Day. It was subsequently shortened. ---
**Author:** ![Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ac91a4/32.png) [@Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knighted_Vorpal_Sword)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-veterans-day/925338/9 "2020-11-11T17:37:09Z")
This answer makes the most sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-veterans-day/925338/10 "2020-11-11T17:43:36Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > As for the OP, originally, the name was All Veterans Day. It was subsequently shortened. To be a bit more acurate, it was originally proposed as All Veterans Day. But the law that changed it just replaced the word ‘Armistice’ with ‘Veterans’. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-veterans-day/925338/11 "2020-11-11T17:56:54Z")
Don’t try to ruin this, it is a wonderful solemn way to remember the day. Facts will only get in the way. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-veterans-day/925338/12 "2020-11-11T18:02:55Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Facts will only get in the way. Hey, this is GQ. _Facts_ is what we live on here. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-veterans-day/925338/13 "2020-11-11T18:06:11Z")
Agreed, and I honestly never knew it wasn’t signed in the 11th hour. Was Pershing really the one that coined the phrase? ---
**Author:** ![daisysmithh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@daisysmithh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daisysmithh)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2021, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-veterans-day/925338/14 "2021-02-07T07:58:51Z")
The holiday is not a day that “belongs” to one veteran or multiple veterans, which is what an apostrophe implies. It’s a day for honoring all veterans — so no apostrophe needed.