ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, November 11, 1996              TAG: 9611130005
SECTION: NEWSFUN                  PAGE: NF-1 EDITION: METRO 

SO?!!

Today is Veterans Day in the United States, a legal holiday honoring all veterans. A veteran is a person who has served in the armed forces, such as the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard.

Here are some other things that happened on this date:

* On Nov. 11, 1918, fighting in World War I came to an end with the signing of an armistice between the Allies and Germany.

* In 1831, former slave Nat Turner, who had led a violent insurrection, was executed in Jerusalem, Va.

* In 1889, Washington became the 42nd state.

* In 1921, President Warren G. Harding dedicated the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.

* In 1966, Gemini 12 blasted off from Cape Kennedy, Fla., with astronauts James A. Lovell and Edwin ``Buzz'' Aldrin Jr.

* In 1972, the Army turned over its base at Long Bihn to the South Vietnamese army, symbolizing the end of direct U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War.

* In 1981, stuntman Dan Goodwin scaled the outside of the 100-story John Hancock Center in Chicago in nearly six hours.

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