A veteran (from Latin vetus, meaning "old") is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field; " A veteran of ..." . This page refers to military veterans, i.e., a person who has served or is serving in the armed forces, and has direct exposure to acts of military conflict, commonly known as war veterans (although not all military conflicts, or areas in which armed combat takes place, are necessarily referred to as "wars").

Military veterans often receive special treatment in their respective countries due to the sacrifices they made during wars. Different countries handle this differently, some openly support veterans through government programs and others ignoring them. Veterans are also subject to illnesses directly related to their military service such as PTSD. War veterans are generally treated with great respect and honor for their contribution to the world and country by their own nationals. Conversely there are often negative feelings towards the veterans of alien nations held long after the war is over, for example towards the German Nazi soldiers, but they are no less veterans of war than those of the winning side. There are exceptions. Veterans of unpopular conflicts, such as the Vietnam War, have been discriminated against. Others, such as veterans of conflicts like the Korean War, are often forgotten (even though the casualty rate in Korea was higher than that experienced in the Vietnam War) when compared with those who fought in the World Wars. In some countries with strong anti-military traditions (e.g., Germany after 1945) veterans are neither honored in any special way by the general public, nor have their dedicated Veterans Day, although events are sometimes orchestrated by Neo-Nazis and other minority right-wing groups.

Anne "Annie" Decatur Danielewski (born March 23, 1967), professionally known as Poe, is an American singer and songwriter. She first hit the modern rock charts in the mid-1990s. Poe is the daughter of Polish film director Tad Danielewski and his second wife, Priscilla Machold. She is the sister of author Mark Z. Danielewski. Poe's musical style is a blend of folk, rock and electronica elements backing intimate lyrical compositions. Poe was signed to Atlantic Records from 1995–2001. She is currently on her own label, RePoezessed Records.

Poe grew up in Provo, Utah, where her father was a professor at Brigham Young University. She eventually began pursuing her undergraduate studies at Princeton University where she organized her first band. Her first album, Hello, was released in 1995. Her debut single, "Angry Johnny", got much radio and MTV airplay.

Occupied by extensive small club tours, she was unable to produce a second album until 2000's Haunted. Poe included her late father on Haunted after discovering cassette tapes containing his voice. Listening to them the first time proved so difficult that she was hesitant to use them in her music. "I took these tapes home and I couldn't listen to them," Poe explains. "It was too hard, so I kept finding ways to avoid it. They were sitting on my coffee table next to a boombox." The album also dovetails with themes and concepts from her brother Mark's postmodern novel House of Leaves; the CD and the book were released simultaneously. Poe and Mark toured together across America at Borders Books and Music locations in support of the album and the novel.

John Gale "Johnny" Horton (April 30, 1925–November 5, 1960) was an American country music and rockabilly singer most famous for his semi-folk, so-called "saga songs" which began the "historical ballad" craze of the late 1950s and early 1960s. With them, he had several major successes, most notably during 1959 with the song "The Battle of New Orleans" (written by Jimmy Driftwood) which was awarded the 1960 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording. The song was awarded the Grammy Hall of Fame Award, and during 2001 ranked No. 333 of the Recording Industry Association of America's "Songs of the Century".

During 1960, Horton had two other successes with "North to Alaska" for John Wayne's movie, North to Alaska, and "Sink the Bismarck." Horton is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Horton was born in Los Angeles, California, to John and Claudia Horton, the youngest of five siblings, and raised in Rusk, Texas. His family often traveled to California, frequently as migrant fruit pickers. After graduation from Gallatin High School in 1944, he attended the Methodist-affiliated Lon Morris Junior College in Jacksonville, Texas, with a basketball scholarship. He later attended Seattle University and briefly attended Baylor University, although he did not graduate from any of these institutions.

Albert Henry Woolson (February 11, 1848 – August 2, 1956), was the last surviving member of the Union Army, which fought in the American Civil War. He was also the last surviving Civil War veteran on either side whose status is undisputed. (At least three men who followed him in death claimed to be Confederate veterans, but their status as Civil War veterans has been debunked.)

Woolson was born in Antwerp, New York. His father, Willard Woolson, enlisted in the Union Army. Willard was wounded at the Battle of Shiloh and was transported to an Army hospital in Windom, Minnesota, where he eventually died of his wounds. Albert and his mother moved to Windom to accompany Willard. Albert enlisted as a drummer boy in Company C, 1st Minnesota Heavy Artillery Regiment on October 10, 1864, becoming the company's drummer. The company never saw action, and Albert Woolson was discharged on Sept. 7, 1865.

Woolson returned to Minnesota, where he lived the rest of his life. He was a carpenter and later a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, a powerful political organization made up of Civil War veterans where he became senior vice commander in chief in 1953.

James Glaser (June 25, 1899 – March 1985) was a copy editor at the New York Post and also spent time working at the New York Times. During his tenure at the Times he was an active member of the Communist Party. Glaser was called before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee in Jan. 1956 during their investigation into communism in the media.

In 1934 Glaser left his copy editing job at the New York Times to take the managing editor position at the Communist-leaning Daily Worker. When he arrived one of his first acts was to write a brief about his move from the Times to the Worker. The next day, when he picked up the Worker, he was shocked to find a completely different brief saying he would be writing a series about graft and corruption at the Times. Glaser flipped out. He rushed from party leader's office to party leader's office trying to figure out who changed the managing editor's copy. Finally he met "Mr. Edwards," the representative from Moscow. "Mr. Edwards explained that the series was necessary to make sure Glaser was "tried and true," and that he didn't carry with him the taint of a capitalist paper, the Times. Glaser never gave into the pressure to write the series.