Veterans Day

Schedules Saturday marks the celebration of Veterans Day, formerly called Armistice Day. TODAY Government and business: All government offices, courts, libraries and public schools and many private businesses are closed. Transportation: MTA buses will follow regular schedules with slightly fewer buses. Metrolink trains will follow regular schedules. Trash: Trash in the city of Los Angeles will be collected as regularly scheduled. SATURDAY Government and business: All post offices and many banks and libraries will be closed.

While most of the country will head routinely to work Friday, workers at General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group will get the day off. Why? It's the start of deer-hunting season, a peculiar benefits quirk stemming from collective bargaining, corporate needs and Midwestern outdoors culture. During contract negotiations in the late 1990s, the automakers agreed to make Veterans Day a paid day off - but with a catch. The United Auto Workers didn't necessarily want to celebrate Veterans Day. Rather, its members wanted a flexible day off in November about the time hunting season starts.

WASHINGTON -- “After a decade of war, our heroes are coming home,” President Obama declared Sunday, marking Veterans Day by highlighting the first such day in 10 years without American troops serving in Iraq. Delivering a speech during a ceremony at the Memorial Amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery, Obama applauded the efforts of service members and celebrated the diminished number of U.S. military involvements. “This is the first Veterans Day in a decade in which there are no American troops fighting and dying in Iraq.

As we observed Veterans Day , the National WWII Museum in New Orleans unveiled an exhibit chronicling the experiences of the 93,941 American prisoners of war held in the nearly 100 camps or stalags scattered throughout Nazi Germany and German-occupied territory. "Guests of the Third Reich"  highlights the POWs' personal stories and life inside the camps, using oral histories from some of the prisoners themselves. Artifacts on display include a Red Cross aid package, one of more than 27 million shipped to prisoners; a violin made from materials scavenged around Stalag Luft I; and blank books, distributed by the YMCA with colored pencils, filled with drawings, snapshots and poems of camp life.

WASHINGTON -- The Washington area is full of statues honoring military heroes, many of whom have been long forgotten. But the latest statue, dedicated Monday, salutes a man well known to Marines: Lt. Gen. Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller, the most-decorated Marine in U.S. history. A statue of the recipient of five Navy crosses was dedicated at Semper Fidelis Memorial Park adjacent to the National Museum of the Marine Corps near Quantico, Va. The three-star general died in 1971 at age 73. The eight-foot-tall bronze statue depicts the barrel-chested Puller with his arm extended, pointing toward the museum.

Veterans and active military members ski or snowboard free Monday at Bear Mountain, Snow Summit and Mountain High resorts in honor of Veterans Day. The Southern California ski resorts have just opened after a cold front that swept in last week dumped a little snow and dipped temperatures low enough for snow-making machines to kick into gear. Mountain High opened Sunday with lifts accessing beginner and intermediate terrain, and Bear Mountain and Snow Summit are scheduled to open Monday, according to their websites.

WASHINGTON -- The Washington area is full of statues honoring military heroes, many of whom have been long forgotten. But the latest statue, dedicated Monday, salutes a man well known to Marines: Lt. Gen. Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller, the most-decorated Marine in U.S. history. A statue of the recipient of five Navy crosses was dedicated at Semper Fidelis Memorial Park adjacent to the National Museum of the Marine Corps near Quantico, Va. The three-star general died in 1971 at age 73. The eight-foot-tall bronze statue depicts the barrel-chested Puller with his arm extended, pointing toward the museum.

They came from Walker Basin, a speck of a community at the edge of the Sequoia National Forest. From the farm town of Reedley, where a barber gives boys joining the military free haircuts before they ship out. They came from San Francisco. Los Angeles. San Diego. When they died, photos went up on post office walls in their hometowns. On Veterans Day, there are parades and charity golf tournaments. Buddies gather at graves to drink to the ones who are gone. In the 11 years since the wars began in Iraq and Afghanistan, 725 service members from California have been killed.

WASHINGTON -- “After a decade of war, our heroes are coming home,” President Obama declared Sunday, marking Veterans Day by highlighting the first such day in 10 years without American troops serving in Iraq. Delivering a speech during a ceremony at the Memorial Amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery, Obama applauded the efforts of service members and celebrated the diminished number of U.S. military involvements. “This is the first Veterans Day in a decade in which there are no American troops fighting and dying in Iraq.

Red Lion Hotel Anaheim is preparing for a little military fanfare this Veterans Day. The hotel offers members of the military a free night's stay, a special turkey dinner buffet at reduced prices and free s'mores around the pool. Why? To say thank you, something we should all do, and not just on Veterans Day. The deal: Active, former and retired military personnel may make a reservation for a free stay on Sunday at the 308-room hotel near Disneyland . The Military Appreciation dinner -- turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, pies -- costs $12 per person and $9 for children younger than 10. Make reservations at (714)

National parks and national forests have a Veteran's Day deal open to all: free admission. Not all parks and forests charge an entry fee, but those that do will welcome visitors free of charge. The deal: The weekend marks the last fee-free day in 2012. (The next one is the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in mid-January.) This means you save the $20 entry fee at national parks such as Yosemite and Sequoia/Kings Canyon and the $5 Adventure Pass fee in the Angeles National Forest and other nearby forests.

To honor the memory of four Marine comrades killed in Iraq and to show respect for all military personnel sent to foreign lands, a small but determined group trudged up a steep hill at Camp Pendleton on Friday morning as the nation observed Veterans Day. At precisely the date and time when World War I officially ended, giving rise to Armistice Day — the forerunner to Veterans Day — the group erected a 13-foot cross. The cross replaced one placed on the hill in 2003 by the Marines before they deployed to Iraq.

A roundup of entertainment headlines for Friday: Calle 13 takes home nine Latin Grammys. ( Los Angeles Times ) Billy Crystal is replacing Eddie Murphy as the 2012 Oscars host. ( Los Angeles Times ) "Immortals" is likely to slay the competition at the box office this weekend. ( Los Angeles Times ) "Twilight" star Kristen Stewart takes the spotlight in "Snow White and the Huntsman" trailer. ( Los Angeles Times ) "The Hunger Games" trailer will premiere Monday on "Good Morning America.