Every year we spend Veterans day remembering and honoring service members who have fought in the armed forces. Most people don’t know the history behind the federal holiday and quite frankly often confuse it for Memorial Day. But they are completely different.

For starters, it was originally called Armistice Day. And the main difference between the two is that Memorial Day is to honor those Americans who gave their lives. Veterans day is to celebrate both living veterans and those who are no longer with us. The goal is to simply thank those who have fought in our country’s service for their sacrifices.

In November of 1918, the German and Allied powers met in France to sign a document that signaled the end of World War I. After four years of war on November 11th, in the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the war was finally over. The following year United States President Woodrow Wilson made an effort to publicly honor the services for those who lost their lives on Armistice Day.

In 1938 it became an official holiday, set aside to celebrate veterans of World War I. Post world War II and Korean War, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs urged that all veterans deserved to be celebrated, hence the transformation from “armistice day” to “Veterans Day”. In 1968 the Uniform Holiday Bill was signed, making sure that multiple legal holidays, including Washington’s birthday and Veterans Day observances, would take place on Mondays. This pushed Veterans Day to the fourth Monday of October.

Most Americans were not only unhappy about this but also continued to celebrate it only on November 11th. Finally, in October of 1971, a new bill was signed by President General Ford saying that Veteran’s day was returning to its original observation day.

Thank you for you service

Memorial Day is seen as the unofficial start of summer and has become synonymous with trips to the beach and backyard barbecues. Often overlooked is the real reason behind the holiday – honoring the nation’s fallen service members.

With that in mind, here are some interesting facts about Memorial Day:

Originally called Decoration Day, Memorial Day began as an effort to honor Union soldiers who died during the Civil War.  Union General John A. Logan called for the first nationwide Decoration Day on May 30, 1868, which was marked by decorating the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers and flags. Over time, it became known as Memorial Day. In 1971, federal law changed the observance of the holiday to the last Monday in May and extended the honor to all soldiers who have died in American wars.

Congress passed a law in December of 2000 requiring Americans to pause at 3 p.m.. local time on Memorial Day to remember and honor the fallen.

This is why you should wear a poppy on Memorial Day: Canadian Lt. Col. John McCrae, who served as a surgeon for an Allied artillery unit during World War I, spotted the bright red flowers poking through battlefields in France and Flanders in 1915.  That inspired him to write the poem, “In Flanders Field.”  Later that year, Georgia teacher and volunteer war worker, Moina Michael, read the poem and wrote her own, “We Shall Keep the Faith” to urge making the poppy a tribute to those who have died in wartime.