Armed Forces Day: 14 facts you may not know about the U.S. military

Armed Forces Day: 14 facts you may not know about the U.S. military
Atlanta Journal Constitution
Debbie Lord
May 21, 2016

On August 31, 1949, the Secretary of Defense, Louis Johnson, had an announcement to make.

Following World War II, the U.S. military hierarchy was being reorganized and redundancies, at least some of them, were being eliminated. The departments of War and of the Navy had been combined in 1947 and called the National Military Establishment. In 1949, the name was changed to the Department of Defense.

To build morale and to put a new focus on the combined forces, Johnson would announce the creation of a single-day celebration to honor all the members of the military no matter the branch. It was known as Armed Forces Day.
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