Here’s how America is celebrating Veterans Day
It was on the 11th day of the 11th hour of the 11th month in 1918 when the fighting ended in World War I. Since its first anniversary in 1919, Nov. 11 has been a day to honor the nation's military veterans.
President Barack Obama gave his final Veterans Day address as commander in chief at a ceremony at Arlington National Ceremony on Friday.
"Whenever the world makes you cynical, whenever you doubt that courage and goodness and selflessness is possible, stop and look to a veteran," Obama said. "They don't always go around telling stories of their heroism, so it's up to us to ask and to listen, to tell those stories for them and to live in our own lives the values for which they were prepared to give theirs."
There are more than 2 million veterans under the age of 34, and many young people are still fighting on the front lines in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world.
President-elect Donald Trump is huddling at Trump Tower in New York City, but he tweeted a message of support on Veterans Day.
Parades are being held across the country.
Some are calling for a parade to honor post-9/11 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Businesses are offering discounts for veterans.
In his speech, Obama said the day was a good opportunity for the nation to try to come together after the historic and divisive election.
"Veterans Day often follows a hard-fought political campaign — an exercise in the free speech and self-government that you fought for," he said. "It often lays bare disagreements across our nation. But the American instinct has never been to find isolation in opposite corners. It is to find strength in our common creed, to forge unity from our great diversity, to sustain that strength and unity even when it is hard. And when the election is over, as we search for ways to come together — to reconnect with one another and with the principles that are more enduring than transitory politics — some of our best examples are the men and women we salute on Veterans Day."
