Trump Calls Veterans Day ‘Victory Day for World War I’

President Donald Trump used a Veterans Day proclamation on November 11 to describe the 1918 armistice and honor U.S. veterans, referring to the observance as “Victory Day for World War I.” The proclamation did not announce a change to the holiday’s official name or its November 11 observance.

Trump’s proclamation described the armistice, which halted fighting in World War I at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. He praised the U.S. role in the conflict and said more than 320,000 American service members suffered casualties. He also referred to veterans of what he called this year’s Iran operation.

Veterans Day remains the name of the U.S. holiday. The Department of Veterans Affairs’ history says Congress amended the Armistice Day law in 1954, replacing “Armistice” with “Veterans” so November 11 would honor American veterans of all wars. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed that legislation.

The observance began as Armistice Day. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first commemoration in November 1919, a year after the armistice took effect. The fighting stopped in 1918, but the Treaty of Versailles, which formally ended the war, was signed on...