Vietnam Memorial in Des Moines

This artist's design for a granite memorial listing the names of 869 Iowans who never returned from the Vietnam War was unveiled on Veterans Day, Friday, November 11, 1983. The memorial was erected on the south side of the Iowa Statehouse grounds in Des Moines and was dedicated on Memorial Day, May 28, 1984.

THANK YOU VETERANS!

The end of World War I (also known as "The Great War"), occurred on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, and was known as Armistice Day.  Armistice Day became a legal national holiday on November 11, 1938. On November 8, 1954, the holiday's name was changed to Veterans Day, honoring veterans of all wars and military service.

Also on this day in 1944, in the Pacific Theater of World War II: A squadron of U.S. cruisers and destroyers commanded by Rear-Admiral A.E. Smith shelled Japanese airfields and coastal installations on Iwo Jima. The bombardment commenced at midnight and continued on during the next day. The American invasion of the island would come on February 19, 1945.