A Proclamation on Veterans Day, 2024

Today, we honor generations of America’s veterans—patriots who have stood on the front lines of freedom and kept the light of freedom shining bright around the world. Just as they have kept the ultimate faith in our nation, we must keep the ultimate faith in them.

Each of our nation’s veterans is a link in a chain of honor that stretches back to our founding days – bound by a sacred oath to support and defend the United States. Throughout history, whenever and wherever the forces of darkness have tried to extinguish the flame of freedom, America’s veterans have fought to keep it burning bright. I remember so clearly the pride the First Lady and I felt in our son Beau during his service in Iraq. He—like all our veterans from Belleau Wood, Baghdad, and Gettysburg to Guadalcanal, Korea, and Kandahar and beyond—lived, served, and sacrificed by a belief in duty. We owe them a debt of gratitude that we can never fully repay, not only for fighting for our democracy, but for giving back to our society and inspiring the next generation to serve, even after they hang up their uniforms.

As a nation, we have one truly sacred obligation: to prepare and equip those we send into harm’s way, and to care for them and their families when they return home. Since coming to office, I have signed more than 34 bipartisan pieces of legislation to support our veterans and their families, caregivers and survivors. That includes the landmark Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Pledge to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT), which enacted the most significant expansion of benefits and services for veterans exposed to toxins in more than 30 years. Today, more than 1.1 million veterans and 11,000 survivors of deceased veterans are now receiving new service-connected disability benefits, and over 5.8 million veterans have been screened for toxic exposure—a critical step to ensure they receive the care they need. they need. And starting last March, any exposed veteran who served during any conflict outlined in the PACT Act will be able to enroll in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care. My administration ensures that women veterans enrolled in Department of Veterans Affairs health care have equal access to benefits and health care services. My administration has worked to reduce barriers and reach out to veterans to ensure they can access their earned benefits. As a result, the VA is providing more benefits to more veterans than ever before. By 2024, the VA was processing more claims than ever and delivering health care at record levels. We have taken steps to remove barriers and disparities for all veterans, including people of color, LGBTQI+ people, and women. We’ve made progress in addressing veteran homelessness, and we’re working to end the silent scourge of suicide by addressing financial and legal risk factors, promoting safe firearm storage, and expanding access to mental health services. Last year, VA housed nearly 48,000 veterans, expanded access to health care and legal assistance for homeless veterans, and helped more than 158,000 veterans and their families keep their homes. And we are committed to helping the roughly 200,000 service members who transition out of the military each year find good-paying jobs, including by connecting them with registered apprenticeship programs. My Administration has also prioritized supporting veteran entrepreneurship. This year, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses secured nearly $32 billion in federal contracts, nearly $4 billion more than the previous year.

While our veterans are the steel backbone of this nation, their families are the brave heart – they also serve and sacrifice so much for our country. Last year, I signed an executive order calling for the most comprehensive set of administrative actions in our nation’s history to support the financial security of military and veteran spouses, caregivers, and survivors. The executive order increases educational and employment opportunities for military spouses in the workforce and encourages federal agencies to do more to retain military and veteran spouses through flexible policies. Additionally, through the First Lady’s Joining Forces initiative, my administration is working to better support military and veteran families, with everything from making school transitions easier for military children to expanding economic opportunities and improving the well-being of military spouses, caregivers and survivors.

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to visit Normandy to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day with so many WWII veterans. Their service and sacrifice helped free the world from tyranny. We learned then what we still know now: Democracy is never guaranteed. Each generation must preserve it, defend it and fight for it. Today we honor all our veterans who have preserved, defended and fought for our democracy. They prove that we are a nation that can meet darkness with light again and again, no matter how high the cost or how heavy the burden. May we all strive to be worthy of their sacrifices for us, and do our part to keep the light of freedom burning for generations to come.

In respect and recognition of the contributions our veterans and their families, caregivers and survivors have made to the cause of peace and freedom around the world, Congress has provided (5 USC 6103(a)) that November 11 of each year shall be set aside as a legal holiday to honor our nation’s veterans.

THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, do hereby declare November 11, 2024, as Veterans Day. I urge all Americans to recognize the bravery, courage and sacrifice of these patriots through appropriate ceremonies and private prayers and by observing two minutes of silence for our nation’s veterans. I also encourage federal, state and local officials to display the United States flag and participate in patriotic activities in their communities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth.

JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.