Today is Veterans Day...here are five facts and figures you should know:

desnousa, flickr
desnousa, flickr
loading...

1.  Veterans Day didn't start until 1954. November 11th used to be Armistice Day, marking the anniversary of the end of World War One. President Eisenhower changed it to Veterans Day to honor veterans of ALL wars.

2.  There are about 21.2 million military veterans in the U.S., and 1.6 million of them are women.

3.  The Vietnam War has the most living veterans, with approximately 7.4 million. The two Gulf Wars have 5.4 million...the Korean War has 2.3 million...World War Two has 1.6 million...and 5.3 million veterans served during peace time.

4.  There are no surviving U.S. World War One veterans. Frank Buckles was the last one. He died two years ago at 110 years old.

5.  Alaska has the largest percentage of veterans, with 13.6% of the adult population.  Montana is second, at 12.7%.

(U.S. Census Bureau)

More From Awesome 98