The origins of Veterans Day can be traced to the ending of World War I nearly a century ago. Known at the time as “The Great War,” World War I officially ended on June 28, 1919 with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in France. But the fighting had actually ended seven months earlier when an armistice between the Allies and Germany went into effect on November 11, 1918. The following November United States President Woodrow Wilson declared November 11 “Armistice Day” in honor of the cessation of the hostilities, and the day became a federal holiday in 1938. That act was amended in 1954 after veterans service organizations, in recognition of the efforts of soldiers who fought in World War II, asked that the day be renamed “Veterans Day” so it honored all soldiers and not just those who fought in World War I.