History Launches Annual Campaign to Honor America's Veterans

Few Americans are aware that only 1% of our citizens serve in the Armed Forces. It's time for 100% of the remaining 99% to say thank you and learn more about the veterans who continue to give back through service. With Veterans Day fast approaching, HISTORY? announces a continuation of "Mission to Honor," its nationwide, multi-platform public affairs campaign dedicated to recognizing American veterans. Expanding each year, "Mission to Honor" in 2013 will be the Network's biggest year yet, with high visibility on-air, online, in schools, in businesses and local communities. HISTORY will continue past successes, like Take A Veteran to School Day and Thank A Veteran At Work Day, which will incorporate a new PSA from First Lady Michelle Obama and Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden. Also new to "Mission to Honor" in 2013 will be HISTORY's partnership with Team Rubicon, a veterans service group, and an enhanced #THANKAVET social media campaign.

"HISTORY's core outreach mission of making history relevant and meaningful goes together with honoring those who fought to guarantee our freedom," said Dr. Libby O'Connell, Chief Historian and Senior Vice President of Corporate Outreach at HISTORY. "Watching this campaign grow over the years has been exciting for all of us. Every year has set new records for participation and we are committed to using all of our resources to ensure that 2013 is no exception."

"Mission to Honor" has already drawn wide public participation, thanks to on-screen support from notable leaders like Vice President Joe Biden, First Lady Michelle Obama, Dr. Jill Biden, and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as well as Actor Bradley Cooper, and Major League baseball player Johnny Damon. More than 10,000 schools have participated in Take A Veteran to School Day and 700 corporations have joined-on to Thank A Veteran at Work Day. By increasing social media outreach through #THANKAVET, HISTORY looks forward to reaching more Americans than ever in 2013.

Also new this year is HISTORY's partnership with Team Rubicon (teamrubiconusa.org), a veterans service organization that deploys veteran volunteers to disaster areas for emergency assistance. Team Rubicon seeks to provide our veterans with three things they lose after leaving the military: purpose, gained through disaster relief; community, built by serving with others; and self-worth, from recognizing the impact one individual can make. Past deployments include Hurricane Sandy relief in New York and New Jersey, tornado recovery in Oklahoma, and medical operations in Haiti. To raise awareness and support Team Rubicon's essential mission to help both returning veterans and communities across our country, HISTORY produced two Team Rubicon specific PSAs and will donate $1 (up to $50,000.00) to Team Rubicon and America's VetDogs for every "#THANKAVET" tweet (kicking off November 1, 2013).

"Team Rubicon is thrilled to be in partnership with HISTORY," said William McNulty, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Team Rubicon. "HISTORY and Veterans.com are always searching for new ways to support our veterans and we're thankful that they believe in our mission to provide opportunities for our veterans to continue their service through disaster relief."