Originally known as "Armistice Day," Veterans Day was first observed on November 11, 1919, marking the first anniversary of the end of World War I. In 1926, Congress passed a resolution for November 11 to be recognized annually, and the date became a national holiday in 1938.
Nov. 11, 2019, marks the 100-year anniversary of this day where we honor all those who have served or are serving in our armed forces.
Today, there are more than 16 million living veterans who have served during at least one war, 5.2 million veterans have served in peacetime. Two million veterans are women.
More than seven million veterans served during the Vietnam War and 5.5 million served during the Persian Gulf War. Two million veterans served during the Korean War and 16 million served during World War II.
DPAA takes this holiday weekend to honor all of our veterans, past and present, including the 1,587 still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War, 7,606 unaccounted for from the Korean War, 126 unaccounted for from the Cold War and 72,641 still unaccounted for from World War II.
On this day, 244 years ago, the Continental Marines were established by the Second Continental Congress. Tun Tavern, located in Philadelphia, has long been regarded as the birthplace of the Corps, where the first Marines
enlisted under Commandant Samuel Nicholas. Following the end of the Revolutionary War, the Continental Navy, and with it the Continental Marines, was disbanded. The Corps was reestablished on July 11, 1798, when the act for establishing and organizing a Marine Corps was signed by President John Adams. In 1921, the Marines' original birthday of November 10 was declared a Marine Corps holiday to be celebrated throughout the service.
Happy birthday, United States Marine Corps!
On this day, we also remember the Marines who are still unaccounted for: 202 from Vietnam, 642 from the Korean War, 2,839 from World War II, and 1 from the Cold War. You are not forgotten!
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Rusty Frank
Members of a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency recovery team sifts through soil during the first recovery mission of fiscal year 2020, Lang Son Province, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Oct. 28, 2019. For more than three decades, the U.S. has conducted joint field activities with the governments of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia to recover the remains of missing Americans. Throughout these countries, field teams continue to investigate crash and burial sites, as well as interview locals to gain additional knowledge.
U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Jacqueline Clifford
Ms. Carmen Rodriguez-Gonzalez, left, shows a photo of her late father U.S. Army Master Sgt. Alberto Rodriguez-Lozada to U.S. Army Maj. Jessie Romero and Sgt. Maj. Joaquin Andujar during a Family Member Update in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Nov. 2, 2019. Carmen was only 4 years old when her father died fighting in the Korean war and attended the FMU to find out information on his case. DPAA visited the area meeting with strategic partners, government leadership, service members and DoD personnel. Nearly 40 family members attended the FMU to stay informed on current DPAA operations as well as to share their own stories of loved ones that are still missing from past conflicts. This is the first time DPAA visited Puerto Rico since 2012.
U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Jacqueline Clifford
U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Joaquin Andujar, senior enlisted leader, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), speaks to soldiers from the 246th and 311th Quarter Master companies at Fort Buchanan in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Oct. 31, 2019. Sgt. Maj. Andujar spoke to the soldiers about the vital role they play as mortuary affairs specialists in completing DPAA’s mission to provide the fullest possible accounting for our missing personnel to their families and the nation. DPAA will be hosting a Family Member Update (FMU) November 2nd in San Juan where they inform families on current DPAA operations about their loved ones. This will be the first FMU in Puerto Rico since 2012.
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Apryl Hall
An Airman from the 15th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron walks the flight line before a heavy rainfall at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Sept. 23, 2019. The Airman was greeting a C-17 Globemaster III that had just returned from Papua New Guinea with personnel from a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency recovery team. The team was returning with possible remains of service members lost during WWII.
U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Sean Everette
Marine Sgt. Kelly Timney was named DPAA's Junior Noncommissioned Officer of the Year earlier this year and was honored by the Secretary of Defense for competing at the Defense Department level during a ceremony at the Pentagon Oct. 24. Timney was a DPAA photographer with our Outreach and Communications office and is now the official photographer for the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps. Congratulations, SGT Timney!
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U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Emily Kenney
Emily Snider, scientific recovery expert, briefs Australian forces on a DPAA recovery mission in East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea, Sept. 7, 2019. In September 1943, Australian and American forces launched a major offensive against the occupying Japanese. The recovery team visited the area in hopes of recovering a missing pilot whose aircraft was lost during WWll.
U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser / Arlington National Cemetery
Soldiers from the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), the U.S. Army Band, “Pershing’s Own”, and the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment Caisson Platoon conduct military funeral honors with funeral escort for U.S. Army Air Force 1st Lt. Seymour Drovis in Section 57 of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, Oct. 16, 2019.
In July 1944, Drovis was a member of Company A, 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division, engaged against enemy forces in Achugao Village, Saipan Island, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The division sustained heavy casualties during one of the largest Japanese “banzai” attacks of WWII. A soldier reported seeing Drovis fatally shot on July 7, 1944.
In September 2013, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command recovered possible osseous remains and material evidence from a burial feature on Saipan. The location correlates to where Drovis’ unit fought during the banzai attack. The remains were subsequently sent to the DPAA laboratory for identification.
To identify Drovis’ remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence. Drovis was accounted for on Sept. 4, 2018.