Students from the Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Program at Lugoff-Elgin High School carry a 40 by 60 foot flag during the 2013 Verterans Day Parade in Columbia, S.C. Veterans Day was originally proclaimed Armistice Day on Nov. 11, 1919, to mark the end of major hostilities of World War I that were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect.