Father’s Day is a time to celebrate dads everywhere. However, those who served our country in uniform deserve special appreciation for the unique challenges they faced while serving and for the Father’s Days they may have missed with their children growing up. Unbeknownst to most of us in 2024, the history of Father’s Day involves a dad who was also a veteran. 

The Father’s Day holiday was first introduced in 1910 in Spokane, Washington, by Sonora Smart Dodd, the daughter of American Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart. After Ms. Dodd heard a passionate speech from her pastor about Mother’s Day and the importance of mothers, she went to him and explained that her father, in addition to being a veteran, had raised six children as a single parent and that fathers deserved a holiday just as much as mothers did.

Ms. Dodd proposed that Father’s Day should be on June 5, the birthday of her father, but the pastor needed until the third Sunday to prepare his sermon honoring fathers. Thus, the beginning of a day celebrated throughout the United States and many foreign countries.

Similar to Veterans Day but on a smaller scale, many restaurants and other commercial establishments offer Father’s Day discounts to veterans and active-duty service members on services and merchandise generally considered more guy-oriented. For a short list of such opportunities, provided on veteran.com, click here.