Thursday November 11 is Veterans Day across the U.S. It is a day to celebrate and honor the men and women that have served in the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.

The day was originally called Armistice Day. In some countries like Canada and Great Britain, it is now called Remembrance Day. It marks the end of World War I in 1918, when Germany signed the armistice and the Great War ended on the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month,” otherwise known as November 11.

Although Armistice Day was celebrated annually in the U.S. from 1919 onward, the federal holiday didn’t become official until 1938.

During and just after the end of World War II, there was a grass-root movement to use the November 11 Armistice holiday to honor all veterans, not just the ones that served in World War I. In 1954, President Eisenhower, a World War II veteran himself and a rare five-star general, signed a law renaming Armistice Day. This is how November 11 became Veterans Day.

Every November 11, take the time to thank a veteran that has served the U.S. military in peace and wartimes.