Military Observances

Find out the different military observances and the differences between each day.

Armed Forces Day. Observed the third Saturday in May, this day is for all who currently serve and all who have served, both active and former, in the reserves, National Guard or on active duty, including the Coast Guard.  It replaced separate days that honored various branches of the military (Army, Air Force and Navy).

Veterans Day. Celebrated annually on November 11, this day of observance is for all living and deceased who have served in the military.

Memorial Day. Celebrated annually on the last Monday in May, this day of observance is for all who died while serving

National Guard Birthday Celebrated December 13, honors all citizen-soldiers who have civilian jobs but are available to provide support and protection for the states’ civilians. They may be called for military operations at a national level.

Within this Collection

Vanishing Generation, Part 4
Episode 4

Video

Tom Grove, prisoner of war survivor, recalls the Battle of the Bulge, and says that is where he got his first combat injury. He was taken prisoner that day, after a German tank pulled up in front of...
Vanishing Generation, Part 8
Episode 8

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Tom Grove, prisoner of war survivor, tells the story of being in his second prison camp, and hearing bombing way off in the distance, and how the noise of artillery got louder and closer, along with...
Vanishing Generation, Part 7
Episode 7

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Tee Senn, cryptologist, speaks of the tank battles, about the reality, not TV, and seeing a tank explode. "...For years...you wake up...it gets to you...it's something that you don't ever want to have...
Vanishing Generation, Part 6
Episode 6

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Major C. "Buck" Wiley recalls the Red Ball Express, loading up "all those 250 trucks...with ammunition...take them to the front...gasoline...and then when it started snowing, and when the Battle of...
Vanishing Generation, Part 5
Episode 5

Video

Russell Meyne, B-17 pilot, says, "But Pearl Harbor, of course, was one about 4-hour period," and he didn't get hit, didn't get shot..."there was no continuity to it...the beginning and end was right...
Vanishing Generation, Part 3
Episode 3

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Don Ziglar, U.S.S. Yorktown Quartermaster, recalls Japanese fighter planes coming toward the Yorktown. The captain was out on the wing of the bridge, at the starboard side. The bridge wasn't big...
Vanishing Generation, Part 1
Episode 1

Video

World War II is the most important event of the 20th Century. It changed everything. Fifty million people died in World War II, including 405,000 Americans. The United States became a world power, the...
Vanishing Generation, Part 2
Episode 2

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World War II occurred during the 1940s when segregation was still the norm in America. The African Americans who fought were in a segregated army even overseas in England. One of the reasons the...
Always First: The SC Air National Guard, Part 6
Episode 6

Video

In 2006, the Swamp Foxes were preparing for an Operational Readiness Inspection, the most important peacetime evaluation of the unit's combat readiness. The purpose of the exercise is to get people...
Always First: The SC Air National Guard, Part 5
Episode 5

Video

The strength of the South Carolina Air National Guard has always been its people. And what has given these people their best opportunity to excel is great aircraft. It started with the P-51 Mustang...