Today is Veteran's Day. For an excellent description of how this day is distinct from others, and particularly, Memorial Day, the USO has a great article here: https://www.uso.org/stories/2522-understanding-the-difference-of-memorial-day-vs-veterans-day

Both national holidays - Memorial Day and Veteran's Day - were born from tragedy. The former emerged from the Civil War. Prior to that there were only 4th of July celebrations. That's not to state there weren't major wars, because there were. My own ancestors arrived with the 2nd Charter of Virginia and have fought in every national conflict, starting with the American Revolution, since. The scars of the Civil War on our nation are well-documented, and in particular, the trauma of losing so many fellow Americans in many towns and cities. It was a distinctly American war, fought for the soul of these "United" States, that our diversity should not preclude our unity.

Veteran's Day was born with the first...