World War I In 1918, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the 'war to end all wars' finally ended. Germany and the Allies signed a temporary ceasefire, or armistice. This anniversary was known as Armistice Day until 1954, when the federal holiday was renamed Veterans Day. World War II veteran Raymond Weeks organized the first 'National Veterans Day' in 1947 in his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama. He also wrote a letter and personally delivered his petition for a renamed national holiday to then-Army Chief of Staff, General Dwight Eisenhower. But the holiday remained known as Armistice Day until the early 1950s, when Alvin King, a shoe salesman from Emporia, Kansas, sought to change the name of his local celebration to Veterans Day. King, who had lost his nephew in World War II, wanted to expand the scope of the observance to honor all war veterans, not just those of World War I. His US congressman took the idea to Washington, DC, and quickly got the support of Eisenhower, who in the intervening years had been elected president. On June 1, 1954, it became official: November 11 would be known as Veterans Day. Veterans make up 11.9 percent of Alaska residents, the highest percentage of any US state, according to data from 2017. In terms of raw numbers, California tops the list, with more than 1.8 million veterans living there. Nationwide, 7 percent of US adults were veterans in 2017, down from 18 percent in 1980, according to the Census Bureau.
